Allenrolfea

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Iodinebush
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Amaranthaceae
Subfamily:	Salicornioideae
Genus:	Allenrolfea Kuntze
Species:	A. occidentalis
Binomial name
Allenrolfea occidentalis (S.Wats.) Kuntze
Synonyms
Halostachys occidentalis

Allenrolfea is a monotypic plant genus containing the single species Allenrolfea occidentalis, the iodinebush. This is a low-lying shrub of the Southwestern United States, California, Idaho, and northern Mexico.

It grows in sandy, often salty, distinctly alkaline soils, such as desert washes and saline dry lakebeds. It is a common halophyte member of the alkali flat ecosystem.

Description

The knobby green stems are fleshy and appear jointed at the internodes between segments. Often the segments are so short they are nearly round. The leaves appear as flaky scales scattered across the surface of the stems. The genus was named for the English botanist Robert Allen Rolfe.

The seeds of iodinebush have been used as food in North America in prehistory^[1].

References

1. ^ Rhode, David; Madsen, David B.; Jones, Kevin T. (2006) Antiquity of early Holocene small-seed consumption and processing at Danger Cave Antiquity 80(308):328-339

Further reading

• Gul, B., D. J. Weber, and M. A. Khan. (2001). Growth, ionic and osmotic relations of an Allenrolfea occidentalis population in an inland salt playa of the Great Basin Desert. Journal of Arid Environments 48(4) 445-60.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Allenrolfea occidentalis

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Photo gallery

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