Atriplex truncata

Wedgescale, Wedgescale

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Wedgescale is a California native annual found in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, desert slopes of the Transverse Ranges, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions on alkaline soils and flats at elevations of 600 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers arranged in distinctive wedge-shaped bracts that are 2 to 4 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems up to 70 centimeters tall, the plant develops multiple branches that are slightly angled and covered in gray scales. Its leaves vary from ovate to triangular, measuring 10 to 40 millimeters long, with lower leaves typically having petioles while upper leaves are sessile and have truncate or rounded bases. The plant produces small brown seeds approximately 1 to 1.5 millimeters in size, characteristic of its genus.

Habitat: Alkaline soils, flats

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 600-2500 m

Bioregions: SNH (e slope), TR (desert slopes), GB, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Orange, Modoc, Tulare, Los Angeles, Siskiyou, Inyo, Mono, Sonoma, Lassen, Plumas, Kern, Fresno, San Diego

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