Index / Search / Atriplex polycarpa
§1 Plant
Atriplex polycarpa (Torr.) S. Watson
vernacular cattle saltbush — species · Chenopodiaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Chenopodiaceae Vent.
- Genus
- Atriplex
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 21 counties across 3 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- High
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- Medium
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 7 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 170 min.
- Precipitation
- 3–12 in/yr
- pH range
- 7.5–9
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 6 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 6 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Winter
- Seed ends
- Winter
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 490,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Field Collections Only
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 21 counties across 3 states/territories.
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ATPO ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3083665 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z