Atriplex serenana Nelson var. davidsonii (Standley) Munz   Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot Family)   Native           Davidson's Saltbush

                                          May Photo

Plant Characteristics: Erect or decumbent annual, usually branched, often forming tangled mats 5-20 dm. across with ascending twigs, sparsely scurfy, lvs. many, alternate, lanceolate to oblong or oval, subsessile, 1-2 cm. long, sharply dentate to entire; plants monoecious, the staminate glomerules in terminal short clusters, subglobose, pistillate  clusters small, axillary; fruiting bracts sessile or subsessile, somewhat compressed, united half way, cuneate-orbicular, 2-5 mm. long, smooth or tubercled, toothed above the middle, faintly three-veined; seed brown, 1-1.3 mm. long.

Habitat: Alkaline valleys at low elevs.; V. grassland, Coastal Sage Scrub, etc.; Sacramento V. to L. Calif.; w. Nev.  May-Oct.  Var. davidsonii occurs from Los Angeles to Balboa and Laguna Beach.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 358).

Name:  Atriplex, the ancient Latin name.  (Dale 95).   Serenus in Latin means dry but this may not be the root from which the name was derived.  It could be given however, due to the plants growing in low dry alkaline habitats.  (John Johnson).  Davidsonii, in honor of Anstruther Davidson, 1860-1932. California.  (Bailey 41).

General:  Rare in the study area, having been found only twice first along Back Bay Dr. near the termination of Back Bay Dr. with Eastbluff Dr. and two years later in August 1990, on North Star Beach.  Photographed on Back Bay Dr.      According to Fred Roberts at the UCI Museum of Systematic Biology, this is the first reported finding   of this plant in Upper Newport Bay since 1932.  Fred also related that the 1932 specimen was collected May 19, 1932 by L.M. Booth who then apparently gave portions of it to Pomona College and the University of California at Berkeley.  The Pomona specimen was given a catalog number, the Berkeley specimen, which is now at UCI, was not.  The Pomona specimen was identified as A. serenana var. davidsonii, the Berkeley specimen as A. serenana var. serenana.  The Pomona collection was later merged with the Rancho Santa Ana collection, which is where it is at present.  The specimen at UCI, which came from Berkeley, is A. serenana var. serenana.  There is no way to know for sure that Pomona and Berkeley were given the portions of the same specimen, we only know that they were collected on the same day.  (my comments).   In early December 1989 I went to the Museum to talk to Fred Roberts about other plants but asked to see the Atriplex serenana mentioned above.  When Fred got out the specimen that had come from Berkeley he discovered that it had in fact been collected by L. M. Booth on May 19, 1932 but that the Pomona specimen had been collected in August 1932.  This, of course, means that the above story is incorrect, however, I leave it for its interest.  This also means that A. serenana var. serenana remains unreported since 1932.  (my comments).       A. serenana has been found to accumulate free nitrates in quantities capable of causing death or distress in cattle.  (Fuller 385).        Rare.  (Hickman, Ed. 505).

Text Ref:  Abrams Vol. II 82; Hickman, Ed. 505; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 358.

Photo Ref:  May 1 88 # 18,19,20.

Identity: by John Johnson.  

First Found:  May 1988.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 361.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 6/6/04.  

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