# Atriplex canescens

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Species of flowering plant

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Atriplex canescens Conservation status Secure (NatureServe) Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Embryophytes Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Spermatophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Eudicots Order: Caryophyllales Family: Amaranthaceae Genus: Atriplex Species: A. canescens Binomial name Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt.

***Atriplex canescens*** (or **chamiso**, **chamiza**, **four-wing saltbush**) is a species of [evergreen](/source/Evergreen) [shrub](/source/Shrub) in the family [Amaranthaceae](/source/Amaranthaceae) (subfamily [Chenopodioideae](/source/Chenopodioideae)) native to the western and midwestern [United States](/source/United_States).

## Description

*Atriplex canescens* has a highly variable form, and readily hybridizes with several other species in the genus *[Atriplex](/source/Atriplex)*. The degree of [polyploidy](/source/Polyploidy) also results in variations in form. Its height can vary from 1 foot to 10 feet, but 2 to 4 feet is most common. The leaves are thin and 0.5 to 2 inches long.

It is most readily identified by the fruits, which have four wings at roughly 90 degree angles and are densely packed on long stems.

This species blooms from April to October.

Dried fruits on a stem, in the desert west of Las Vegas, Nevada

## Habitat

Fourwing saltbush is most common in early succession areas such as disturbed sites and active sand dunes. It is also found in more mature successions dominated by [sagebrush—*Artemisia tridentata*](/source/Artemisia_tridentata) and [shadscale](/source/Shadscale).

## Uses

Among the [Zuni people](/source/Zuni_people), an infusion of dried root and blossoms[1] or a poultice of blossoms is used for ant bites.[2] Twigs are also attached to prayer plumes and sacrificed to the cottontail rabbit to ensure good hunting.[3] The Native American Hopi Indians preferred the ashes of four-wing saltbush for the [nixtamalization](/source/Nixtamalization) of maize (the first step in the process of creating tortillas and pinole, by which the pericarp of Indian corn is removed before parching and grinding). Oftentimes the four-wing saltbush was used instead of slaked lime (hydrate lime/slaked powder lime).[4] Four-wing saltbush is also a common marker that archaeologists can use to locate ancient Pueblo ruins, which may indicate that the small branches of this bush were burned for their alkaline ashes to nixtamalize maize by Native peoples throughout the South-Western United States.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.44)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Camazine, Scott and Robert A. Bye 1980 A Study Of The Medical Ethnobotany Of The Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:365–388 p.384

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Stevenson, p.88

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hopi Cookery, by Juanita Tiger Kavena, 1980

## External links

- [USDA Plant Guide](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_atca2.pdf)

- [Calflora: *Atriplex canescens*](http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=967)

- [Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of *Atriplex canescens*](https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=15193)

- [USDA Forest Service: *Atriplex canescens*](https://web.archive.org/web/20050204140123/http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/atrcan/)

- [UC Photos gallery: *Atriplex canescens*](http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/img_query?where-taxon=Atriplex+canescens&where-anno=1)

- [Southwest Desert Flora](http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/All_Species/Chenopodiaceae/Atriplex%20canescens,%20Four-wing%20Salt%20Bush.html)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Atriplex canescens](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Atriplex_canescens).

Taxon identifiers Atriplex canescens Wikidata: Q2878841 Wikispecies: Atriplex canescens APDB: 131459 APNI: 128742 Calflora: 967 CoL: JLB9 Ecocrop: 3540 EoL: 586526 EPPO: ATXCA FEIS: atrcan FloraBase: 16369 FNA: 242100016 GBIF: 3083750 GRIN: 6000 iNaturalist: 58113 IPNI: 1175090-2 IRMNG: 10589447 ITIS: 20518 NatureServe: 2.158547 NCBI: 35922 Open Tree of Life: 352856 PfaF: Atriplex canescens Plant List: kew-2665120 PLANTS: ATCA2 POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1175090-2 SEINet: 127 Tropicos: 7200079 VASCAN: 4466 WoI: 3254 WFO: wfo-0000555884 Calligonum canescens Wikidata: Q50829076 APDB: 185344 APNI: 199078 CoL: PQ4L GBIF: 4037927 GRIN: 8542 IPNI: 42398-2 POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:42398-2 Tropicos: 50110839 WFO: wfo-0000580370

Authority control databases National United States Israel Other Yale LUX

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