Common Name: Powell's Saltweed

General Information

Atriplex powellii is an annual plant with a slender, branched stem usoally 10 - 50cm tall[].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

No member of this genus contains any toxins, all have more or less edible leaves. However, if grown with artificial fertilizers, they may concentrate harmful amounts of nitrates in their leaves.

Botanical References

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Range

Central and western N. America - Alberta and Saskatchewan, south through Oregon and Nebraska to Arizona ans New Mexico

Habitat

Alkaline flats and badlands[]. Saline, usually fine-textured clay or silty substrates, in greasewood, rabbitbrush, shadscale, seepweed, mat-atriplex, juniper-pinyon, and blackbrush communities; at elevations from 700 - 2,000 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Annual
Height	0.40 m
Pollinators	Wind
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Species in this genus generally succeed in full sun in any well-drained but not too fertile soil[]. Most species in this genus tolerate saline and very alkaline soils[].
This species is usually dioecious - both male and female forms need to be grown if seed is required[]. This rather widely distributed annual approaches being truly dioecious, but in occasional specimens the flowers of the opposite gender are present, intermixed in glomerules, resulting in monoecious individuals[].

Edible Uses

Leaves and young plants - cooked[, ] and used as greens[, ]. A salty flavour, they are often used as a flavouring for other foods[].

Seed - cooked[, ]. Used in piñole or ground into a meal and used as a thickener in making bread or mixed with flour in making bread[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow mid spring in situ[]. Germination is usually rapid.