Atriplex hortensis L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Amaranthaceae

• Scientific Name

  Atriplex hortensis L.

• Description

  Species Description - Erect or decumbent, to 2 m; lvs becoming green, ovate to broadly deltoid, to 15 cm; staminate and pistillate fls in separate spikes or mingled, forming a large, paniculate infl; some pistillate fls with a horizontal seed, 4–5-lobed persistent cal, and no bracteoles, but most with vertical seed, no perianth, and 2 persistent bracteoles (as in other spp. of Atriplex); fruiting bracteoles thin, separate, to 15 mm, rotund-ovate or suborbicular, broadly obtuse, entire or denticulate, conspicuously reticulate; seed apparently central, its radicle inferior; 2n=18. Native of Asia, cult. as a pot herb, and rare as a waif in our range. (A. nitens)

• Common Names

  orache