Atriplex L.
Monoecious or dioecious, annual herbs or small shrubs, glabrous or farinose. Stems green, often striped reddish or white. Lvs generally alternate, flat, toothed or lobed, often hastate, sometimes entire; upper lvs much smaller. Fls in glomerules; glomerules aggregated in panicles, dense spikes or sometimes solitary. ♂ fls: bracteoles 0; perianth segments (3)-5; stamens (3)-5. ♀ fls: bracteoles 2, accrescent and enclosing fr., free or somewhat fused, entire or dentate, often lobed near base, often tuberculate or with appendages on bracts, sometimes spongy inside; perianth usually 0, if present then segments 5. Ovary superior; stigmas 2. Fr. pericarp membranous, often easily detached. Seeds sometimes dimorphic, usually vertical, rarely horizontal; testa usually smooth; radicle often protruding.
Key
200-250 spp., widespread, especially in saline habitats. Native sp. 1, naturalised 6.
Several, additional, mainly shrubby spp. are cultivated in N.Z. and grown for soil stabilisation in dry South Id areas. One of them, the Australian A. vesicaria Benth., bladder saltbush, has been reported regenerating at sites where it has been planted in C. Otago; it is a small shrub with suborbicular bracteoles which are almost concealed at fruiting by large spongy appendages. Another Australian sp., A. semibaccata R. Br., has been recorded for N.Z. but no specimens of wild plants have been seen. It is related to A. cinerea.
