Atriplex prostrata Boucher ex DC.

Spice Detail Leaves Inflorescence

Family: CHENOPODIACEAE

Genus: Atriplex

Catalan common name: Blet. Herba molla.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Girona. Lleida. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Cabrera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Holoartica

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Terophyte.

Habitats: Litoral marshes and riparian. Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Rocky coastlines. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). Humid and sallty soils and cultivated fields.

Characteristics: A herb which lives in moist soils, generally near the brackish water. It can be diistinguished by its triangular leaves, often arrow- shaped. The inflorescence is a kind of spike at the top of the branches, it is hardly visible. It can be mistaken for Atriplex patula, but the latter has narrower leaves which are lanceolate rather than triangular. It flowers at the end of spring and in summer.