Torrey’s saltbush

Obione torreyi S. Watson, Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 290. 1871; Atriplex lentiformis (Torrey) S. Watson subsp. torreyi (S. Watson) H. M. Hall & Clements; A. lentiformis var. torreyi (S. Watson) McMinn

Shrubs, dioecious, forming broad clumps, mostly (8-)1.2-20(-30) dm; branchlets striately and often sharply angled, glabrous or sparingly puberulent, often becoming bluntly spiny. Leaves persistent, alternate; petiole 1-4 mm; blade grayish or greenish, ovate to deltate, rhombic, oval, or lanceolate, typically subhastate, (5-)12-32 × 4-16(-20) mm, base truncate to obtuse, margin entire (rarely toothed), apex obtuse and apiculate. Staminate flowers yellow, in clusters 1 mm wide, borne in panicles mainly 10-30 cm. Pistillate flowers in once-branched panicles. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, orbiculate, greatly compressed, 1.3-4 mm, about as wide, margin crenate, apex rounded. Seeds brown, 1-1.9 mm wide.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): sw United States.