Scientific Family
Chenopodiaceae
Other common names
Wright's orach
Wright's orache
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Height
6 inches to 3-1/4 feet
Riparian
No
A tall bushy annual, stout, angular, sparsely to widely branched, lower branches often 16 inches long or more. Leaves toothed with very smooth leaf undersides; male flowers in leafless, terminal spikes; female flowers in axillary clusters.
Male flowers in conspicuous nearly leafless terminal elongated flower heads, female flowers in axillary clusters. Leaves narrow at each end, white below, green above. Flower bracts are not round, margins irregularly toothed, not in 2 forms.
Habitat
Found on alkaline or saline soils, often along roadsides and in other disturbed ground.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Montane Conifer Forest
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Disturbed Areas
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
3000
High elevation
7000
Flower Characteristics
Male flowers in dense compact clusters along leafless, 2-3/4 inches to 11-3/4 inches long, terminal and slightly branched flower heads. Female flowers in axillary clusters.
Flower color
Orangish-pink & yellow
Flower shape
Inconspicuous
Tubular
No
First bloom month
June
Last bloom month
September
Flower clusters
Elongated
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Erect to ascending, stems, sparsely to widely branched, covered with small bran-like particles, sometimes red; leaves on short stems, blade pale below, green, smooth above, leaves narrow at both ends, 1 to 2-1/4 inches, irregularly toothed margins.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Narrow
Leaf margin
Toothed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
None
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruits compressed, oval to somewhat wedged-shaped, borne on a short stalk, rounded at apex. Multiple fruits basally united. Fruits have an additional little bract on the short flower stalk, between the bract and the sepals.
Fruit type
Other
Pale brown, <1/8 inch.