Atriplex patula

Spear orach, Spear Orach

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Spear orach is a California native annual found in coastal and northern California regions including the North Coast, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and California Cascade Range in salt marshes and non-saline substrates at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from July to November, this plant produces green flowers with distinctive ovate to diamond-shaped bracts. Growing with erect, angled stems 30 to 150 centimeters tall that branch from the base, it develops ascending to spreading branches. Its leaves vary from lanceolate to oblong, ranging from 15 to 80 millimeters long, with proximal leaves occasionally having a hastate shape and distal leaves becoming linear. The plant produces two kinds of seeds, one black and 1 to 2 millimeters long, the other brown and 2.5 to 3 millimeters long.

Habitat: Salt marshes or non-saline substrates

Bloom period: Jul-Nov

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: NCo, CaRF, CCo, SnFrB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.