Atriplex lentiformis, Saltbush or Quail Bush

This native bird favorite is a tough and useful shrub with beautiful silvery gray foliage. Growing 5 ft. or more tall and spreading widely, quail bush is valued for its ability to deal with difficult sites where it tolerates wind, salt spray, saline and alkaline soils. A terrific habitat plant, providing food and cover for a wide array of birds and mammals. Native from the coast to the desert. Excellent for erosion control and is fire resistant. Benefits from annual shearing and occasional aggressive pruning to rejuvenate. Plant in full sun with occasional to little summer water.

This drought hardy evergreen shrub is a wildlife habitat superstar, providing food and shelter for numerous birds, small mammals, and insects. No need for backyard bird feeders as saltbush provides plenty of leaves and seeds for quail, finches, sparrows, towhees and other birds.  Adult finches are especially fond of the tender tips, consuming it for themselves as well as feeding it to their young. This saltbush species and Atriplex canescens are the host plants for the Saltbush Sootywing and Pygmy Blue butterflies.

It is highly branched and bears triangular-shaped gray-green leaves. This species may be dioecious or monoecious, with individuals bearing either male or female flowers, or sometimes both. Flowers are yellowy tan and not conspicuous. Male flowers are borne in narrow flower clusters up to 20 inches long, while flower clusters of female flowers are smaller and more compact. Plants can change from monoecious to dioecious and from male to female and vice versa.