Herbs, annual (or sometimes perennial-). Stems ascending or procumbent to erect, stramineous or whitish, simple or much branched at base, obtusely angled in age, mainly 0.5-4.5 dm, slender or stout, scurfy to glabrate. Leaves many, subsessile or shortly petiolate; blade elliptic to spatulate, oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate, 5-30(-35) × 2-8(-12) mm, base cuneate to attenuate, margin entire or irregularly dentate, densely scurfy abaxially, usually green and glabrate adaxially. Staminate flowers with 3-5-parted perianth. Pistillate flowers intermixed with staminate in small axillary clusters. Fruiting bracteoles subsessile or short stipitate, orbiculate, strongly compressed, 2-4 mm and as wide, united except at thin margin, margin dentate, terminal teeth often prominent, faces smooth or with cristate appendages (thornberi phase). Seeds brown, 1-1.5 mm wide.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual, rarely perennial herb 5-45 cm tall, stems ascending or procumbent to erect, stramineous or whitish, simple or much branched at base, obtusely angled in age, slender or stout, scurfy to glabrate.

Leaves: Many, alternate, subsessile or shortly petiolate; blade elliptic to spatulate, oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate 5-30 mm long by 2-8 mm wide, base cuneate to attenuate, margin entire or irregularly dentate, densely scurfy abaxially, usually green and glabrate adaxially.

Flowers: Small and inconspicuous; staminate flowers with 3-5 parted perianth; pistillate flowers lacking a perianth, intermixed with staminate flowers in small axillary clusters.

Fruits: Fruiting bracteoles subsessile or short stipulate, orbiculate, strongly compressed, 2-4 m long and wide, united except at thin margin, margin dentate, terminal teeth often prominent, faces smooth or with appendages; seeds brown, 1-1.5 mm wide.

Ecology: Found in alluvial soils, ditchbanks, field edges, roadsides, washes, generally disturbed soil below 3,500 ft (1067 m); flowers March-August.

Distribution: s CA, s NV, AZ, s UT, s NM, s TX; south to c MEX.

Notes: Distinguished by being an annual with elliptic leaves that are white-scurfy on the bottom and green on top, with the whole plant being densely farinose, or covered with white mealy (-flour-like-) hairs. Especially identifiable when fruiting by the deeply toothed bracteoles that enclose the seed. Two varieties are recognized: var. elegans from the Chihuahuan to the Sonoran deserts, with bracteole margins dentate to incised with teeth to 0.5-1 mm; and var. fasiculata from the Mojave to Sonoran deserts, with finely toothed bracteole margins, 0.3-0.5 mm, and a strongly samara-like bracteole.

Ethnobotany: Pima and Gila boiled the plant with cactus fruits and other foods, to contribute its salty flavor.

Etymology: Atriplex is ancient the Latin name for the plant, derived from the plant-s Greek name atraphaxes; elegans means elegant.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015, AHazelton 2015