Atriplex vesicaria

{{Speciesbox

| name = Bladder saltbush

| image = Atriplex vesicaria.jpg

| genus = Atriplex

| species = vesicaria

| authority = Heward ex Benth.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112942|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}

| range_map = Atriplex vesicaria.png

| synonyms_ref =

| range_map_caption = Occurrence data from AVH

| synonyms = Pachypharynx neglecta Aellen

}}

File: Atriplex vesicaria habit (larger).jpg]]

File:A. Vesicaria fruit in macro.jpg

Atriplex vesicaria, commonly known as bladder saltbush,{{FloraBase | name = Atriplex vesicaria Benth. | id = 2481}} is a species of flowering plant of the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to arid and semi-arid inland regions of Australia. It is an upright or sprawling shrub with scaly leaves and separate male and female plants, the fruit often with a bladder-like appendage.

Description

Atriplex vesicaria grows as an upright or sprawling, perennial shrub up to {{cvt|1|metre}} high. The leaves are sessile, elliptic to oblong or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|5–25|mm}} long, {{cvt|3–15|mm}} wide and scaly. The edges of the leaves are entire, occasionally toothed, with the leaf tips pointed or blunt.{{cite web |title=Atriplex vesicaria |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Atriplex%20vesicaria |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=23 June 2022}}{{Cite journal |last=Black |first=R. F. |date=1954 |title=The leaf anatomy of Australian members of the genus Atriplex. I. Atriplex vesicaria Heward and A. nummularia Lindl. |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt9540269 |journal=Australian Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=269–286 |doi=10.1071/bt9540269 |issn=1444-9862|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |title=Factsheet - Atriplex vesicaria |url=https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/scotia/key/Plants%20and%20Fungi%20of%20south%20western%20NSW/Media/Html/Atriplex_vesicaria.htm |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=keys.lucidcentral.org}}

Male and female flowers are usually borne on separate plants. Male plants usually bear flowers in clusters on simple or branched panicles or spikes {{cvt|20–40|mm}} long, the flowers with five similar perianth segments. Female flowers are borne in clusters of two to many in upper leaf axils and lack a perianth, the ovary surrounded by two bracteoles. After flowering, the bracteoles swell to {{cvt|3–14|mm}} long and {{cvt|5–15|mm}} wide, and usually have a thin-walled, bladder-like appendage attached.{{cite web |title=Atriplex vesicaria |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Atriplex_vesicaria |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |access-date=23 June 2022}}{{cite web |title=Atriplex vesicaria |url=http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=1143 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=23 June 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Neville G. |title=Atriplex vesicaria |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/bb6f90b2-5ca0-41a4-aff5-d0f192dae64a |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=23 June 2022}}

Taxonomy

Atriplex vesicaria was first formally described in 1870 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis from an unpublished manuscript by Robert Heward.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/546321|publisher=APNI|access-date=13 June 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |title=Flora Australiensis |volume=5 |date=1870 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |pages=172–173 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/84368#page/184/mode/1up |access-date=13 June 2022}} The specific epithet (vesicaria) means "bladder-like" or "inflated",{{cite book |author=William T. Stearn |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=527}} referring to the appendages on the fruiting bodies.{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=335 |edition=3rd}} The name 'Atriplex' is from the Latin atriplexum, meaning orache, a plant used as a spinach substitute.{{Cite web |last=Australian National Botanic Gardens |first=Parks Australia |title=Atriplex nummularia - Growing Native Plants |url=https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2007/atriplex-nummularia.html |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=www.anbg.gov.au |language=en}}

In 1938, Paul Aellen described Pachypharynx neglecta in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie,{{cite web|title=Pachypharynx neglecta|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/541327|publisher=APNI|access-date=13 June 2022}} but the name is considered a synonym by the Australian Plant Census.

In 1984, Geoffrey A. Parr-Smith described eight subspecies of A. vesicaria in the Flora of Australia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Atriplex vesicaria subsp. appendiculata (Benth.) Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria subsp. appendiculata|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112944|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. calcicola Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria subsp. calcicola|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112947|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. incompta Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112948|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112950|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. minor (Aellen) Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112953|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. sphaerocarpa Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112956|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria subsp. variabilis Parr-Sm.{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112959|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}
Atriplex vesicaria Heward ex Benth.subsp. vesicaria{{cite web|title=Atriplex vesicaria|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/112961|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 June 2022}}

Distribution and habitat

Atriplex vesicaria is a widespread shrub that occurs across chenopod shrublands in arid and semi-arid inland areas across southern Australia, in Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. This species grows on alluvial plains, coastal dunes, salt pans, salt lakes, sandy plains and limestone ridges.

In New South Wales, A. vesicaria occurs over clay soils on the Riverine Plains in the west, stony soils in the north west, and on texture-contrast soils in the south west.{{Cite journal |last1=Eldridge |first1=D. J. |last2=Westoby |first2=M. |last3=Stanley |first3=R. J. |date=1990 |title=Population Dynamics of the Perennial Rangeland Shrubs Atriplex vesicaria, Maireana astrotricha and M. pyramidata Under Grazing, 1980-87 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2404297 |journal=Journal of Applied Ecology |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=502–512 |doi=10.2307/2404297 |jstor=2404297 |issn=0021-8901|url-access=subscription }} In Victoria, A. vesicaria occurs in the Lowan Mallee, Murray Mallee, Victorian Volcanic Plain, Murray Scroll Belt, and the Robinvale Plains.{{Cite web |title=Flora of Victoria |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/bb6f90b2-5ca0-41a4-aff5-d0f192dae64a |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au}}

Ecology and reproduction

Bladder saltbush is relatively long-lived, with a 25-30 year lifespan.{{Cite journal |last=Walsh |first=D. |date=2005-01-01 |title=Sex lability discovered in Atriplex vesicaria Heward ex Benth. (Chenopodiaceae) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140196304000977 |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |language=en |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=201–210 |doi=10.1016/j.jaridenv.2004.03.015 |issn=0140-1963|url-access=subscription }} Over large areas, it can occur as the sole shrub species or as a co-dominant shrub with other perennial shrubs.{{Cite journal |last=Hunt |first=L. P. |date=2010-10-28 |title=Spatial variation in the demography and population dynamics of a perennial shrub (Atriplex vesicaria) under sheep grazing in semi-arid Australian rangelands: PERENNIAL SHRUB DYNAMICS UNDER GRAZING |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02087.x |journal=Austral Ecology |language=en |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=794–805 |doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02087.x|url-access=subscription }}

Although hermaphroditic variations with bisexual flowers have been recorded, the A. vesicaria is predominantly dioecious, with male and female flowers occurring on separate plants. Male flowers appear continuously or interrupted in clusters{{Cite web |title=Bladder Saltbush {{!}} Grasslands |url=https://grasslands.ecolinc.vic.edu.au/fieldguide/flora/bladder-saltbush#details |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=grasslands.ecolinc.vic.edu.au}} on thin, simple or branched terminal spikes or panicles. Female flowers are axillary, occurring solitary or in clusters of two or more in the leaf axils.{{Cite web |last=Victorian Resources Online |first=Agriculture Victoria |title=Bladder Saltbush |url=https://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/sip_bladder_saltbush |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au |language=en-AU}} The fruiting body is 6-15 millimetres in diameter, green to cream coloured, mostly orbicular and membranous, with fine veins networked throughout and concealed by inflated spongy appendages, with seeds held between bracts.

This species is halophytic, able to withstand salty soils, and is adapted to dry environments.{{Cite journal |last1=Kadereit |first1=Gudrun |last2=Mavrodiev |first2=Evgeny V. |last3=Zacharias |first3=Elizabeth H. |last4=Sukhorukov |first4=Alexander P. |date=2010-10-01 |title=Molecular phylogeny of Atripliceae (Chenopodioideae, Chenopodiaceae): Implications for systematics, biogeography, flower and fruit evolution, and the origin of C 4 photosynthesis |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.3732/ajb.1000169 |journal=American Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=97 |issue=10 |pages=1664–1687 |doi=10.3732/ajb.1000169|pmid=21616801 |url-access=subscription }} In dry conditions, this plant will shed its leaves to retain moisture.

In favourable conditions, particularly after rainfall, recruitment occurs opportunistically. Flowering and seed set-in can occur several times a year. Male and female flowers are carried on separate plants: however, some plants are bisexual. A vesicaria can alter its sexual state from one season to the next, with sexual expression occurring in response to weather, light intensity, temperature, soil fertility and moisture, disease, age, injury and grazing intensity, and population density.

Conservation status

Atriplex vesicaria is not currently listed under the IUCN, however it is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. A paper published in 1989 suggested that recovery of the species from saltbush dieback may be attributed to mismanagement of some stands.{{Cite journal |last1=Clift |first1=D. K. |last2=Dalton |first2=K. L. |last3=Prior |first3=J. C. |date=1989 |title=Bladder Saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria Heward Ex Benth) Regeneration on the Riverine Plain of South-Eastern Australia since 1983. |url=https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ9890031 |journal=The Rangeland Journal |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=31–39 |doi=10.1071/rj9890031 |issn=1834-7541|url-access=subscription }}

Uses

= Indigenous =

Indigenous Australians have traditionally used the seeds and leaves of Saltbush, typically the species, Atriplex nummularia, commonly known as Old Man, Bluegreen or Giant Saltbush. The seeds are ground and used in damper, and the leaves are sometimes eaten fresh or added to meat.{{Cite web |title=Saltbush - The unlikely delicacy |url=https://warndu.com/blogs/aboriginal-bush-tucker-ingredients/saltbush-the-unlikely-delicacy |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=Warndu |language=en}}

= Agricultural =

Atriplex vesicaria is of agricultural importance for livestock grazing, predominantly sheep grazing; however, the female plants are preferentially grazed{{Cite journal |last1=Clift |first1=D. K. |last2=Dalton |first2=K. L. |last3=Prior |first3=J. C. |date=1989 |title=Bladder Saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria Heward Ex Benth) Regeneration on the Riverine Plain of South-Eastern Australia since 1983. |url=https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ9890031 |journal=The Rangeland Journal |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=31–39 |doi=10.1071/rj9890031 |issn=1834-7541|url-access=subscription }} over male plants that are not as palatable due to a chemical deterrent. Studies have shown that sex ratios are altered under the cumulative effects of preferential grazing.{{Cite journal |last=Graetz |first=R. D. |date=1976 |title=The influence of grazing by sheep on the structure of a saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria Hew. ex Benth.) population. |url=https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ9780117 |journal=The Rangeland Journal |language=en |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=117–125 |doi=10.1071/rj9780117 |issn=1834-7541|url-access=subscription }} The species is sensitive to grazing pressures and can experience heavy defoliation in periods of low rainfall when other perennial shrubs are unavailable. Known for its drought and saline tolerance, the presence of this species is also considered a reliable indicator of pasture conditions.{{Cite web |last=Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development |first=Agriculture and Food |date=20 May 2022 |title=Bladder saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria) in the Western Australian rangelands |url=https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/rangelands/bladder-saltbush-atriplex-vesicaria-western-australian-rangelands |access-date=13 June 2022}}

= Food =

Saltbush is currently considered somewhat of a delicacy and used in modern cuisine. It is known for its salty, earthy, herbal flavour and can be added to meat and vegetable dishes or used as a salt substitute.

Image gallery

File:A. Vesicaria - Shrub in cracking clay.jpg|alt=|Atriplex vesicaria shrub in cracking clay. Stud Creek, Sturt National Park, NSW

File:A. Vesicaria - Shrub displaying abundant fruits.jpg|alt=|Abundant fruits on the Atriplex vesicaria

File:A. Vesicaria fruit in macro.jpg|alt=|A macro image of an Atriplex vesicaria fruit and leaf

File:A. Vesicaria - Shrub displaying fruiting bodies.jpg|alt=|Atriplex vesicaria shrub displaying fruiting bodies

File:A. Vesicaria fruits in macro.jpg|alt=|A macro image of Atriplex vesicaria fruits

File:A group of Atriplex vesicaria shrubs.jpg|A group of Atriplex vesicaria shrubs

File:Fruiting bodies on Atriplex vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia with salt pan in background.jpg|Fruiting bodies of Atriplex vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia

File:Close-up image of the Atriplex vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia.jpg|alt=|Flowers and fruiting bodies of Atriplex vesicaria subsp. macrocystidia

File:Close-up of the species Atriplex Vesicaria.jpg|alt=|Branches and leaves of the Atriplex vesicaria

File:Still image - Atriplex versicaria with flowers and fruit.jpg|alt=|Atriplex vesicaria displaying male flowers and fruit

File:Clusters of fruiting bodies on the Atriplex vesicaria.jpg|alt=|Clusters of fruiting bodies on the Atriplex vesicaria

File:Remnant fruiting bodies from an Atriplex vesicaria shrub.jpg|alt=|Remnant fruiting bodies from an Atriplex vesicaria shrub