Ontario
Weeds: Spreading atriplex
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Leaves
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- Related Links
Name: Spreading atriplex, Atriplex
patula L.,
Other Names: arroche étalée,
Orache, Spreading orache, arroche des champs
Family: Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae)
General Description: Annual, reproducing
only by seed. Plants variable.
Photos and Pictures
Spreading atriplex. A. Base of plant. B. Portion of flowering
stem showing detail of triangular bracts enclosing each flower.
Halbred-leaved atriplex. C. Top of flowering plant.
Stems & Roots: Prostrate or nearly
erect; at least the first 6 leaves opposite (2 per node), but usually
alternate (1 per node) towards the ends of stems and branches; branching
pattern therefore opposite near the base and alternate farther from
the base.
Leaves: Leaves linear to narrowly lance-shaped
and without teeth or lobes, or somewhat broader and with 1 or 2 lateral
lobes and sometimes with a few teeth along the margins above the lobes,
green, somewhat fleshy, mostly 1-5cm (2/5-2in.) long.
Flowers & Fruit: Flowers very small
and unisexual; male flowers with only stamens and sepals (no pistil
or petals); female flowers with only a single pistil (without stamens,
petals or sepals) and enclosed between 2 green, triangular to broadly
diamond-shaped bracts about 1-4mm (1/25-1/6 in.) long and wide, and
2 to 5 of these usually clustered together in the axils of smaller
leaves along nearly all the stems and branches; both sexes on one
plant. Flowers from July to September.
Habitat: Spreading atriplex is a native
plant in both saline and non-saline moist soils throughout Ontario
but frequently occurs as a weed in gardens, waste areas, and row crops
in the southern part of the province.
Similar Species: It is distinguished from
Halbred-leaved atriplex by usually being prostrate, and by its narrower
leaves without lobes or teeth and its wider leaves having a pair of
lobes near the base that point outwards and upwards. It is distinguished
from Lamb's-quarters by its several pairs of opposite leaves and branches,
and its triangular to diamond-shaped bracts enclosing each flower.
Related Links
... on general Weed
topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control
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