Atriplex canescens var. canescens (Four-Winged Saltbush, Chamiso)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Above: Near Gateway, Colorado, June 24, 2016 and McElmo Canyon, December 8, 2014.
Left: Hunter Canyon, Utah, May 2, 2005 and Carpenter Natural Area, June 8, 2014.

In the high desert of the Four Corners area, Four-Winged Saltbush is a very common shrub, often in extensive colonies.  It grows to a conspicuous four, five, or even seven feet high and wide. 

Some Atriplex canescens produce no seeds because some Atriplex canescens shrubs are male, some female, i.e., the species is almost always dioecious (rarely monoecious).  Most interestingly, some Atriplex canescens plants can change sex depending on environmental conditions.  Click to read about this fascinating plant.

Atriplex canescens flowers are tiny and yellow, but in a typical moisture year, the flowers are produced in massive numbers putting on quite a visible display. The top photograph at left probably shows female flowers, the lower photograph and the next photograph below, show male flowers.

Fruiting bracteoles (the four, tiny, wing-like bracts shown above and below), are quite large, stiff, and durable, remaining intact well into winter. The bracteoles are firmly attached to the stiff-walled utricle (the seed pod), which surrounds one flattened, indented seed. The fruits with their large wings are massed in the thousands on a typical 4'x4' plant (see photographs above and below), and since they are persistent and so obvious they make identifying this shrub pretty easy.

Meriwether Lewis collected this species for science September 21, 1804 along the Big Bend of the Missouri River in South Dakota. Frederick Pursh described the plant and named it Calligonum canescens in 1814. Thomas Nuttall moved it to its present genus in 1818.

"Canescens" ("canescent"), refers to a gray/white appearance of some part of a plant due to an extensive cover of hairs. The term is applied to Atriplex canescens because of the gray-green appearance of its leaves.

Atriplex canescens var. canescens (Four-Winged Saltbush, Chamiso)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Hunter Canyon, Utah, May 2, 2005.

Male flowers with anthers exserted.

Atriplex canescens var. canescens (Four-Winged Saltbush, Chamiso)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Murphy Trail, Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, September 27, 2005.
Grandstaff Canyon, Utah, April 1, 2004.

The four wings (bracteoles) are prominent and persist for many months.

Atriplex canescens var. canescens (Four-Winged Saltbush, Chamiso)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Grandstaff Canyon, Utah, April 1, 2004.

Leaves are linear, narrowly lanceolate, and even sometimes spatulate. There are usually various shapes of leaves on the same plant. Leaves are covered with fine hairs and a mealy powder giving the leaf a light green, silvery-gray ("canescent") appearance.
                                        

Atriplex confertifolia (Shadscale)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring.
Above: Lower Cross Canyon, Utah, March 25, 2017.
Left: McElmo Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, March 27, 2004 and March 13, 2015.

This is a common, low shrub of the Four Corners area, growing on open hot hillsides and flats.  Its rounded low profile is punctuated by numerous spiny stem projections. The plant is dioecious, and flowers are inconspicuous yellow for males and green/yellow for females.  Attractive pink bracts get much more attention.  Leaves are closely packed ("confertifolia") and dotted with a silvery scale.

As shown in the second photograph above, last year's leaves fall over the winter and surround the base of the plant making identification almost certain even from a distance.

Atriplex confertifolia was first collected by John Fremont near the Great Salt Lake in 1843 and he and John Torrey named it Obione confertifolia.  Sereno Watson renamed it Atriplex confertifolia.

Atriplex confertifolia (Shadscale)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
(formerly Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, March 27 and April 2, 2004.

Clusters of tiny yellow flowers emerge from a cloak of red bracts.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Atriplex canescens

Range map for Atriplex confertifolia