Atriplex canescens

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{More footnotes needed|date=December 2025}} {{Speciesbox |image = Atriplex canescens habit.jpg |status = {{TNCStatus}} |status_system = TNC |genus = Atriplex |species = canescens |authority = ([[Pursh]]) [[Nutt.]] }}

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

==Description== ''Atriplex canescens'' has a highly variable form, and readily hybridizes with several other species in the genus ''[[Atriplex]]''. The degree of [[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.

[[File:Atriplex_canescens_var_canescens_6.jpg|right|thumb|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 [[Artemisia tridentata|sagebrush—''Artemisia tridentata'']] and [[shadscale]].

==Uses== Among the [[Zuni people]], an infusion of dried root and blossoms<ref>Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.44)</ref> or a poultice of blossoms is used for ant bites.<ref>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</ref> Twigs are also attached to prayer plumes and sacrificed to the cottontail rabbit to ensure good hunting.<ref>Stevenson, p.88</ref> The Native American Hopi Indians preferred the ashes of four-wing saltbush for the [[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).<ref>Hopi Cookery, by Juanita Tiger Kavena, 1980</ref> 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== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_atca2.pdf USDA Plant Guide] * [http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=967 Calflora: ''Atriplex canescens''] * [https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=15193 Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Atriplex canescens''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050204140123/http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/atrcan/ USDA Forest Service: ''Atriplex canescens''] * [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/img_query?where-taxon=Atriplex+canescens&where-anno=1 UC Photos gallery: ''Atriplex canescens''] * [http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/All_Species/Chenopodiaceae/Atriplex%20canescens,%20Four-wing%20Salt%20Bush.html Southwest Desert Flora] {{Commons category|Atriplex canescens|position=left}}

[[Category:Atriplex|canescens]] [[Category:Flora of California]] [[Category:Flora of the North-Central United States]] [[Category:Flora of the Northwestern United States]] [[Category:Flora of the South-Central United States]] [[Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States]] [[Category:Flora of Alberta]] [[Category:Flora of Nevada]] [[Category:Flora of the Great Basin]] [[Category:Flora of the California desert regions]] [[Category:Flora of the Great Plains (North America)]] [[Category:Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)]] [[Category:Flora of the Sonoran Deserts]] [[Category:Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands]] [[Category:Natural history of the Mojave Desert]] [[Category:Natural history of the Transverse Ranges]] [[Category:Forages]] [[Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine]] [[Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status]]