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Common Orache

Common Orache

Atriplex patula

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How common: Common

Alien species

Common Orache is a slender, branching annual that pops up where the ground is rich in nutrients and often disturbed. Its leaves are narrow to oval and the flowers are tiny and green, so the plant is usually noticed by its leaves rather than its blooms. It is widespread and often appears in gardens, fields, roadsides and waste places.

Did you know?

  • Lower leaves usually grow in pairs and often show a forward-pointing tooth on each side at the base.
  • It produces tiny, flat black seeds hidden between two small leaf‑like covers.

About the species

Identification

Annual, 30–60 cm, with many long side branches that rise upwards. Leaves 4–8 cm, narrow-oval to oval, slightly soft. Lower leaves grow in pairs; the base usually shows a forward-pointing tooth on each side, while the rest of the edge is smooth or only shallowly toothed. Flowers are tiny and green, in thin clusters at the tips of stems. Later, flat black seeds (about 2 mm) sit between two small leaf-like covers that may have small teeth. Similar oraches exist, but this one usually lacks long backward-pointing lobes at the leaf base. Flowers in Finland in late summer, July–August.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

yards and roadsides

Flowering

Jul–Aug

About the habitat

Prefers nitrogen-rich, disturbed ground such as yards, gardens, fields, waste ground and roadsides; occasionally near shores. Somewhat common in southern and central Finland; rarer further north.

Sources

Photo: Karen Fry, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/5938093790

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38191

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Carex, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38191

Text: Pinkka: Maatalouslajintuntemus - Caryophyllaceae, Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae, Violaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Begoniaceae, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38191

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38191

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38191

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyl%C3%A4maltsa

See also