1.
Grayia spinosa
(Hooker) Moquin-Tandon in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle., Prodr. 13(2): 119. 1849.
Chenopodium
spinosum
Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 127. 1838;
Atriplex grayi
Collotzi ex W. A. Weber
Plants
dioecious (rarely monoecious).
Stems
3-10(-15) dm, becoming reddish brown with whitish ribs exfoliating in strips, older bark dark gray.
Leaves
of main stems 1-2.5(-4.2) cm × 1.5-6(-10) mm; blade green, apex often whitish.
Staminate flowers:
perianth segments ± enclosing stamens, 1.5-2 mm; filaments shorter than anthers.
Pistillate flowers:
stigma protruding through opening in covering formed by accrescent bracts.
Fruiting bracts
wholly connate, sessile, orbicular to broadly elliptic, 7.5-14 × 6-12 mm, base often abruptly cuneate and stipelike, margins entire, apex retuse, glabrous; wing somewhat thickened near margin, yellowish green, whitish, or pink to red-tinged, smooth, glabrous.
Utricles
brown, 1.5-2 mm.
2
n
= 36.
Flowering spring-summer. Valleys, foothills, dry, alkaline or scarcely alkaline soils, sagebrush, shadscale, and creosote bush communities; 500-2400 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.
Grayia spinosa
is rarely a codominant. Its fruits are still present through July.
