Single Record

Comments: Atriplex wolfii was first collected by John Wolf during the 1973 Wheeler survey, four specimens, two of which he located in the "San Luis Valley" and "Saguache." The next year Sereno Watson named the plant after its collector, describing it from a specimen Wolf had found "on alkaline flats at Saguache, Central Colorado" (Watson, 1874, p. 112). Note that the photorecord of 2022 from Russell Lakes WPA fits that location description. William Jennings, who has studied the Wheeler expedition of 1873, says John Wolf collected around the Russell Lakes (Colorado Native Plant listserve, Sept 2022). Since 1873 there have been a number of Watershed locations for Wolf's saltbrush: "Alamosa" (Ramaley 1936); Blanca in Costilla Co; 1 mile W of Moffat; the Baca National Wildlife Refuge; and 10 miles W of Mosca. The last is a bit puzzling since even in 1991 it was heavily farmed. Together, these locations mark the southeast corner of the USA distribution, which is limited to eastern Utah; and northwest, north central, and south central Colorado—with a few collections from southern Wyoming. The Watershed specimens all belong to A. wolfii var. wolfii, with fruiting bracts of unequal size. Note that herbarium labels spell the collector's name sometimes as "John Wolf" and sometimes as "John Wolfe."