Open, gray or blue-green chenopod scrubs (10-40% cover), usually over a low herbaceous annual understory. Cover types dominated by Atriplex polycarpa (36221) or Atriplex spinifera (36222) perhaps are differentiable. Most perennials (except Atriplex spinifera) flower in May-September. The annuals (and Atriplex spinifera) are active January-April.
SITE FACTORS:
Typically on sandy to loamy soils without surface alkalinity; largely on rolling, dissected alluvial fans with low relief. Long, hot, dry summers; short, damp winters often shrouded in tule fog for weeks at a time from December through February.
DISTRIBUTION:
Southern and southwestern San Joaquin Valley and the Carrizo Plains of San Luis Obispo County. Formerly extensive but now essentially extirpated by agricultural conversion, flood control, and groundwater pumping.
UPDATE: 10/86
Source: Holland, 1986
Digital Text: NatureBase