Extriplex joaquinana

Extriplex joaquinana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Chenopodioideae
Genus: Extriplex
Species: E. joaquinana
Binomial name
Extriplex joaquinana
(A.Nelson) E.H.Zacharias

Extriplex joaquinana is a species known by the common name San Joaquin saltbush. It was formerly included in genus Atriplex.

Contents

Distribution

It is endemic to California,[1][2] where it grows in alkaline soils in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and adjacent parts of the Central Valley and eastern Central Coast Ranges.

Description

This is an annual herb growing erect to a maximum height near one meter. The leaves are 1 to 7 centimeters in length, often scaly, green to gray-green in color, and oval to triangular in shape. The leaves are mostly located lower on the erect plant; those further up the stem are reduced in size. The inflorescences of male flowers are dense, heavy spikes, and the female flowers are held in smaller clusters.

Systematics

The first publication of this taxon was in 1904 by Aven Nelson as Atriplex joaquinana A.Nelson (in: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 17(12): 99). [3]. (It has sometimes been wrongly spelled Atriplex joaquiniana). In 2010, after phylogenetic research, Elizabeth H. Zacharias classified it in a new genus Extriplex, as Extriplex joaquinana (A.Nelson) E.H.Zacharias.[4]

References

  1. ^ Jepson Manual Treatment
  2. ^ Flora of North America
  3. ^ Entry at Tropicos
  4. ^ Elizabeth H. Zacharias, Bruce G. Baldwin (2010): A Molecular Phylogeny of North American Atripliceae (Chenopodiaceae), with Implications for Floral and Photosynthetic Pathway Evolution. In: Systematic Botany 35(4), p.839-857. doi:10.1600/036364410X539907

External links