14.
Atriplex laciniata
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. 1753.
Belgian orach
Herbs
, procumbent, many branched, alternate except basally, 0.06-3 dm.
Stems
reddish or yellowish, smooth or subangular.
Leaves
with blade ovate to lance-ovate or lanceolate to oblong, 15-45 mm, large basal lobes, obtuse, cuneate to a short petiole, margin sinuate-dentate, scurfy on both sides.
Flowers
in glomerules in distal leaf axils, axillary or in short terminal spikes.
Fruiting bracteoles
whitish green, sessile or subsessile, broadly rhombic, (4-)6-7(-8) mm, thickened at base, becoming scaly in age, cartilaginous in basal
1
/2, lateral angles strongly produced and with margin mostly entire, faces smooth or irregular, pointed, or flattened and winglike tubercles in basal
1
/2.
Seeds
monomorphic, light brown, 3.5-4 mm wide; radicle inferior.
2
n
= 18.
Flowering summer-fall. Sand, cobble on more or less protected beaches, on
Zostera
and
Fucus
wrack; 0-50 m; introduced; N.B., N.S., P.E.I., Que.; Europe.
Atriplex laciniata
is evidently rare in North America.
