Atriplex spongiosa

Erect or rounded annual or short-lived perennial to c. 30 cm high, monoecious. Leaves sessile or shortly petiolate, alternate, broadly elliptic, elliptic or ovate, 10–20 mm long and wide, mealy on both surfaces with vesicular hairs, margins entire to strongly toothed. Flowers in axillary clusters of one or both sexes. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, wholly united into a globose or broadly ellipsoid, firmly spongy structure 4–6(–8) mm long, woody in the centre.