Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 4,
Names
Suaeda taxifolia (Standley) Standley [family CHENOPODIACEAE], Publ. Field Mus., Bot. Ser., 8: 10. 1930
Dondia taxifolia Standley [family ], in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl., 21: 9 1. 1916
Suaeda californica S. Watson var. pubescens Jepson [family CHENOPODIACEAE]
Suaeda californica var. taxifolia (Standley) Munz [family CHENOPODIACEAE]
Discussion
Suaeda taxifolia is a highly variable species with many habit, leaf, and pubescence phenotypes, which have resulted in the naming of several variants that appear to reflect local or regional habitat conditions. P. A. Munz (1958) considered this species to be part of S. californica, and referred the longer-leaved, larger-flowered, pubescent plants of coastal southern California to S. californica var. taxifolia; and the shorter-leaved, smaller-flowered, and densely pubescent plants to var. pubescens. However, S. californica is a plant largely of intertidal estuarine shores and marshes and occurs only in central California, whereas S. taxifolia occurs largely on bluffs and occasionally on margins of estuaries in southern California and Baja California in Mexico (W. R. Ferren Jr. 1993). Throughout its range, S. taxifolia varies considerably in leaf shape and density of pubescence.