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Atriplex glabriuscula
Also called Babington's Orache, Edmondston's Atriplex, Shetland Atriplex, Glabrous Orache, Glabrous Saltbush, Northeastern Saltbush, Northseacoast Atriplex
Babington's orache is a low-growing annual that sprawls over shingle and sand beaches in north-west Europe, and it is a pioneer of the strandline vegetation at the top of beaches. It needs full sun, free-draining salty coastal conditions, and is only grown outside its natural habitat by enthusiasts.
Atriplex glabriuscula, usually known in English as Babington's orache, is a prostrate to ascending plant that occurs on shingle beaches in NW Europe, and (as an introduction) in NE North America. It is a characteristic annual of strandline vegetation at the top of sand and shingle beaches.
Babington's orache is native only along the Atlantic shores of northern Europe (including Iceland), where it is frequent from Brittany to Finland, with the largest populations around Scotland and Denmark. In America it is an introduction on the beaches of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with some outlying populations in Hudson Bay.
All Oraches are edible, and some people do collect the young leaves of Babington's orache for cooking. Livestock will also graze on oraches, for example in machair grassland.
Tubercled saltbush · Swamp Saltbush · Fan Saltbush · Silverscale saltbush · Native Orache · Atriplex billardierei · Silver saltbush · Fourwing saltbush · Gray saltbush · Flat-topped saltbush · Shadscale saltbush · Heartscale
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Atriplex glabriuscula by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
