Relatives
Atriplex cana C.A.М. - White Orache, Grey Orache.
Taxonomic position.
Family Chenopodiaceae Less., genus Atriplex L.Synonyms.
Halimus canus Claus.Morphology and biology.
Perennial semishrub 20-50 cm tall, ligneous in lower part, intensely branched. Annual shoots and leaves densely covered with silvery-white scales. Leaves alternate, lower ones obliquely opposite, somewhat thick, oblong-oval to oblanceolate or even linear (upper ones), obtuse, often emarginate, narrowed into petiole, with entire margin. Flowers in leafless verticillate-spicate inflorescence forming panicle. Bracteoles of pistillate flowers sessile, broad in upper part, mainly tridentate, margins fused up to the half. Seeds orbicular, 2-2.5 mm diameter, flat, brown. Flowers in July, fruits in September.Distribution.
Mountain Crimea (rare), Lower Volga area, Caucasus (Eastern Transcaucasia), West Siberia, Central Asia.Ecology.
Clayey deserts. On soils transitional from solonchaks to solonetzs, on crust solonetzs. Occurs in abundance and is one of typical landscape-forming semidesert plants.Use and economic value.
In desert areas is a perfect fuel, and burns well even fresh. Forage - eaten mainly by camels, satisfactorily by sheep and horses.References:
Grossheim AA. 1949. Manual of plants of Caucasus. Moscow. 747 p. (In Russian).Iljin MM. 1936. Genus Orache - Atriplex L. In: Shishkin BK., ed. Flora URSS. V.6. Moscow; Leningrad. P.77-107. (In Russian).
Koropachinskiy IYu., Vstovskaya TN. 2002. Woody plants of the Asian part of Russia. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Science, Branch "Geo". 707 p. (In Russian).
Kurochkina LYa., Osmanova LT., Karibaeva KN. 1986. Forage plants of Kazakhstan deserts. Alma-Ata. 208 p. (In Russian).
Medvedev PF., Smetannikova AI. 1981. Forage plants of European part of the USSR. Leningrad: Kolos. 336 p. (In Russian).
Goloskokov VP., ed. 1969. Illustrated manual of the plants of Kazakhstan. V.1. Alma-Ata: Nauka. 644 p. (In Russian).
Bondarenko ON., Nabiev MM. 1972. Manual of plants of Middle Asia. V.3. Tashkent. 268 p. (In Russian).