Atriplex lentiformis Breweri

Identification

Description

This is now considered A. lentiformis ssp. lentiformis. Formerly it was thought a separate ssp. of A. lentiformis, because coastal plants had larger leaves and fruits. A large evergreen shrub to 8 ft.. Native in coastal Ca. to 100 miles inland. Very alkali tolerant. A plant for wind breaks, borders, and range management. Not a beautiful plant (A. canescens looks better) but will survive on 5-10 inches of rainfall in full sun and poor soil. All of the plant is edible, young shoots suitable for greens(too much salt for day to day use though). Indians used for salty taste. Quail and other birds use seeds for food, foliage for habitat. Cage the plant until the plants are above rabbit height. Our plants in the ground survived 0 with no slow down at all. A foot of wet snow didn't bother it at all. The container stock survived a block that only 100 plants survived out of 2000. This leads me to think it may be hardy to -20. (Note: The Atriplexes from arid environments have a C4 photosynthetic pathway which is generally a more efficient way for the plant to conserve water. They will defoliate under extreme drought. The salt they accumulate in their leaves allows them to extract water from the soil other plants cannot. They need to be under some form of water stress, either drought, salt, or salt spray.(Sharma) The Atriplex species tolerate and remove the excess salts by bladders in their leaves that act as salt sinks, keeping the salt from the plant cells. As the old leaves are shed or eaten the salt is removed from the plant. Atriplex confertiflora can handle 30 ppm Boron in solution.(Most plants burn out at 1-5 ppm.) (Schirmer&Breckle;)) Quail bush's only problem is a bladder problem. There's a house in Morro Bay surrounded by bushes that are old, maybe 15-20 years, have the residents not figured out where the cat pee smell is coming from? We had one that grew into one of the seed houses and made me gage every time I walked into it. Oh, well, maybe they have a lot of cats.