Atriplex spinifera

Spiny saltbush, Spiny Saltbush

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Spiny saltbush is a California native shrub found in southern San Joaquin Valley, southern Coast Ranges, northern Western Transverse Ranges, and Mojave Desert in saline soils, dry lake flats at elevations below 950 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers surrounded by densely white to gray scaly bracts. Growing with many ascending branches and stiff, spine-like twigs reaching 30 to 200 centimeters tall, it develops a distinctive erect form. Its leaves are sessile or nearly so, ranging from elliptic to wide-ovate, typically 6 to 28 millimeters long, with entire margins. The fruit bracts are notable for their spherical lower portion that becomes compressed and dentate, densely covered in scales with smooth or subtly crested veins.

Habitat: Saline soils, flats, dry lakes

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 950 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, SCoRI, n WTR, DMoj.

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Merced, Inyo, Los Angeles, Fresno, Kings, Santa Barbara

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