Atriplex persistens

Vernal pool smallscale, Vernal Pool Smallscale

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Vernal pool smallscale is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in the Great Valley bioregion in alkaline vernal pools at elevations below 115 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces silvery gray flowers in small terminal clusters with densely scaly appearance. Growing to less than 25 centimeters tall with multiple stems from the base, it spreads decumbent to ascending with a delicate, branching habit. Its small leaves are ovate to elliptic, 2 to 5 millimeters long, densely covered in silvery gray scales that give the plant a distinctive metallic sheen. The persistent fruit features fused bracts with dentate margins, creating distinctive round to oblong protective structures around its small brown seeds.

Habitat: Alkaline vernal pools

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: < 115 m

Bioregions: GV.

California counties: Merced, Glenn, Solano, Colusa, Madera, Tulare, Stanislaus

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