Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt.

Shrubs, dioecious or rarely monoecious, mainly 8-20 dm, as wide or wider, not especially armed. Leaves persistent, alternate, sessile or nearly so, blade linear to oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate, mainly 10-40 × 3-8 mm, margin entire, apex retuse to obtuse. Staminate flowers yellow (rarely brown), in clusters 2-3 mm wide, borne in panicles 3-15 cm. Pistillate flowers borne in panicles 5-40 cm. Fruiting bracteoles 8-25 mm, as wide, on stipes 1-8 mm, with 4 prominent wings extending the bract length, united throughout, wings dentate to entire, apex toothed, surface of wings and body smooth or reticulate. Seeds 1.5-2.5 mm wide. 2n = 18, 36+.

Sandy or gravelly, commonly non-saline but in other situations obviously saline, sites in Joshua tree, blackbrush, greasewood, salt desert shrub, sagebrush, mountain brush, and pinyon-juniper communities; at elevations from 100-2,400 metres.

The leaves taste salty. The new shoots and leaves are eaten as greens. The seeds are ground and used as meal. This can be mixed with other seeds and used as flour or used to make a drink. The plant is also burnt to produce mineral-rich ashes used to colour corn products.

Plants can be grown by seed or cuttings.