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Gardner
Saltbush
Common
Name(s):
Gardner Saltbush
Gardner's Saltbush
Scientific
Name:
Atriplex
gardneri (Moq.) D. Dietr.
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
None known
Symbol:
ATGA
Description:
Life Span: Perennial
Origin:
Native
Season: Evergreen
Growth Characteristics:
Gardner
saltbush is a spreading, low-growing subshrub. It can be decumbent
in growth or rounded, and grows 8 to 20 inches tall. It is much-branched,
with branches producing adventitious roots where they contact the
soil. It flowers June to August. Reproduces from seeds and rootstalks.
Flowers/Inflorescence:
Flowers
are unisexual and found in dense clusters towards the branch tips
giving the appearance of a terminal inflorescence. Male flowers
are brown, and the female flowers are borne on leafy spikes. The
herbaceous flowering stems rise above the woody, decumbent portion
of the plant.
Fruits/Seeds:
Fruit is a utricle and ripens about 7 weeks after flowering. Seeds
brown.
Leaves: Alternate,
sometimes opposite below or occurring in fascicles. Leaf blades
are narrowly linear, and thick. The tip is rounded, and the base
is narrowed. Margins are entire. Surfaces are gray-green.
Stems: Twigs
are slender, erect or ascending, often herbaceous. Twigs start with
white hairs, later turning smooth and dark. Trunk bark is light
gray, smooth, and somewhat shreddy.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Gardner
saltbush is found on plains, badlands, and in valleys, usually occupying
sites that are harsh and arid with widely fluctuating temperatures
and high winds.
Soils: Gardner
saltbush is most common on saline, poorly developed, or clay soils
with a pH of 7.8 to 8.6. Soils are typically low in available phosphorous,
nitrogen, and potassium. Gardner saltbush also grows on sodic, silty,
or sandy soils
Associated Species:
Fourwing
saltbush, shadscale.
Uses and
Management:
Gardner
saltbush provides nutritious forage for livestock and wildlife species
throughout its range. Antelope, mule deer, rabbits, and mourning
doves browse Gardner saltbush. Its persistent leaves are an important
winter food source. It is particularly important for sheep because
it provides the minimum nutritional requirement for maintenance
of gestating ewes.
Although overgrazing may reduce plant vigor, winter grazing of up
to 35 percent of total plant biomass allows for maintenance of Gardner
saltbush populations. Halogeton, a species poisonous to livestock,
is unable to invade moderately grazed Gardner saltbush sites.
American Indians ground parched fruits to make pinole flour.
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