Atriplex tularensis

Bakersfield smallscale

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1A

Bakersfield smallscale is a rare (CNPS 1A) California native annual found in the southern San Joaquin Valley in the Kern Lake Bed area of southwestern Kern County on alkaline soils and dry lake shores at elevations of 90 to 200 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces small flowers with distinctive white-scaly stems that have reddish tips. Growing erect to 8 decimeters tall with rigid, brittle branches that overlap and create a distinctive architectural structure, it develops an open, sparse form. Its leaves range from 6 to 20 millimeters long, varying from lanceolate to ovate with rounded bases, with proximal leaves growing opposite and distal leaves alternating. The fruits develop compact bracts 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long, with ovate to diamond-shaped edges and acute tips, containing small red-brown seeds approximately 1 millimeter in size.

Habitat: Alkaline soils, shores of dry lake

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 90-200 m

Bioregions: s SnJV (Kern Lake Bed, sw Kern Co.).

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