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Atriplex hortensis; photograph (c) Marcin Dyderski, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Marcin Dyderski, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-19

Atriplex hortensis L.

Garden orache; Mountain-spinach; Garden saltbush; French spinach

Amaranthaceae · East European Russia, South European Russia +4

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Atriplex hortensis, photograph (c) Valerii Glazunov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Atriplex hortensis, photograph (c) Valerii Glazunov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Atriplex hortensis, photograph (c) Marcin Dyderski, some rights reserved (CC BY)Atriplex hortensis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAtriplex hortensis, photograph (c) Y. Liu, some rights reserved (CC BY)Atriplex hortensis, photograph (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY) 75 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-32.8°C
Record low -43.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
546mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
3–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Atriplex hortensis, known as garden orache, red orache or simply orache (also spelled orach), mountain spinach, French spinach, or arrach, is a species of plant in the amaranth family used as a leaf vegetable that was common before spinach; it is still grown as a warm-weather alternative to spinach. For many years, it was classified in the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), but it has now been absorbed into the Amaranthaceae. It is Eurasian, native to Asia and Europe, and widely naturalized in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Atriplex hortensis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (368 mm of 514 mm) falls in May to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 11.0 °C against a yearly mean of 3.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to May.

Rain

514 mm in the median year at the habitat, 368 mm of it May to November. Wettest month June at 63 mm, driest month February at 22 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 397 mm to 691 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 546 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 514 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -32.8 °C, the absolute minimum -43.3 °C, 8,860 frost nights in 44 years, 201.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -16.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -19.4 °C to -13.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.0 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -32.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 73% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -23 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Atriplex hortensis through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -16.8 °C; 514 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-60°-40°-20°0°20°40°frost30.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-43.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 3–38RH 54–73%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 13 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-11 / -13–-7-9 / -11–-7-1 / -3–19 / 6–1117 / 15–2022 / 21–2524 / 22–2722 / 19–2515 / 13–197 / 5–9-2 / -5–-1-9 / -10–-6
Night °C-17 / -19–-13-16 / -18–-13-9 / -11–-8-2 / -4–06 / 4–812 / 11–1415 / 14–1613 / 11–146 / 6–90 / -1–2-9 / -11–-6-15 / -17–-11
Rain mm31 / 25–4622 / 19–3624 / 21–3331 / 26–3843 / 37–5563 / 42–8162 / 50–8862 / 34–8651 / 34–6843 / 33–6544 / 32–5738 / 26–51
DLI5 / 4–710 / 9–1320 / 18–2229 / 27–3035 / 33–3738 / 36–4036 / 33–3830 / 25–3219 / 16–2210 / 8–135 / 4–73 / 3–5
RH %73 / 69–7470 / 66–7065 / 62–6757 / 55–5854 / 52–5556 / 52–5758 / 53–5959 / 53–6259 / 54–6262 / 58–6466 / 65–6971 / 69–73
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 13 grid cells holding the 13 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 663:4810 (56.825, 60.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -43.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -32.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 13 distinct grid cells holding 13 of the 13 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 663:4810 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 57.00_60.625, lapse-corrected -23 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 262 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEast European Russia, South European Russia, Kazakhstan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran · introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, North European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Cape Provinces, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Primorye, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, West Himalaya, Vietnam, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Alaska, Yukon, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Maryland, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker54.864, 83.111 · in the densest population, 6 records (27% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 22 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 13 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 16 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1541 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 22 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Atriplex hortensis, photograph 1did not loadAtriplex hortensis, photograph 2did not loadAtriplex hortensis, photograph 3did not loadAtriplex hortensis, photograph 4did not loadAtriplex hortensis, photograph 5did not loadAtriplex hortensis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Valerii Glazunov, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Marcin Dyderski, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Y. Liu, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Lathyrus pisiformis Lathyrus pisiformis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевMedicago × varia Medicago × varia Sand Lucerne Photo: CC BY, ivansemenkovGalatella angustissima Galatella angustissima Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Aleksei BaushevMalus baccata Malus baccata Siberian crabapple Photo: CC0, author not statedHelictotrichon desertorum Helictotrichon desertorum Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Евгений МаринкинCampanula stevenii Campanula stevenii Campanulaceae Photo: CC BY, open_a_ir

Other Atriplex 28 in the reference

Atriplex amnicola Atriplex amnicola Swamp saltbush Photo: CC BY, mel lettermanAtriplex barclayana Atriplex barclayana Barclay saltbush Photo: CC BY, Enrique Martínez NúñezAtriplex canescens Atriplex canescens Four-wing saltbush Photo: CC BY, Rachel AllinghamAtriplex cinerea Atriplex cinerea Coast saltbush Photo: CC BY, Peter CrowcroftAtriplex confertifolia Atriplex confertifolia Shadscale Photo: CC BY, Anders HastingsAtriplex glabriuscula Atriplex glabriuscula Babington's orache Photo: CC0, author not statedAtriplex halimus Atriplex halimus Shrubby orache Photo: CC BY, Vasco Henrique Oliveira FonsecaAtriplex hymenelytra Atriplex hymenelytra Desert-holly Photo: CC0, author not statedAtriplex laciniata Atriplex laciniata Frosted orache Photo: CC0, author not statedAtriplex lampa Atriplex lampa Amaranthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAtriplex lentiformis Atriplex lentiformis Big saltbush Photo: CC BY, Ashley NAtriplex leucophylla Atriplex leucophylla Beach saltbush Photo: CC BY, Peter Brastow all 29 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Atriplex acuminata; Atriplex atrosanguinea; Atriplex heterantha; Atriplex hortense; Atriplex hortensis f. integrifolia and 28 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Amaranthaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
East European Russia, South European Russia, Kazakhstan +3
Wild records
22 in range · 16 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 76 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (57 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 15 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 57.00_60.625, lapse-corrected -23 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 166 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…