Fourwing Saltbush
Atriplex canescens
Silvery, salt- and drought-defying evergreen shrub named for its four-winged seeds. Vital browse and cover on the driest, most alkaline and saline soils of the West. Leaves have a pleasant, salty tang eaten raw or cooked, and the seed grinds into a flour or piñole.
- Family
- Amaranthaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 9–9 ft
- Spacing
- 4–8 ft apart
- Light
- part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- April, May, June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, mammals
- Landscape uses
- specimen, hedge or screen
- Native states
- AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY
Related native plants
More Atriplex species
- Desert Holly (Atriplex hymenelytra)
- Quailbush (Atriplex lentiformis)
- Shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia)