Atriplex are C-plants, with a characteristic leaf anatomy (kranz anatomy). The genus "Atriplex" is distributed nearly worldwide from subtropical to temperate and to subarctic regions. Most species-rich are Australia, North America, South America and Eurasia. Many species are halophytes and are adapted to dry environments with salty soils. The genus evolved in Middle Miocene, the C-photosynthesis pathway developed about 14.1-10.9 million years ago, when the climate became increasingly dry. The genus diversified rapidly and spread over the continents. The C"Atriplex" colonized North America probably from Eurasia during the Middle/Late Miocene, about 9.8-8.8 million years ago, and later spread to South America.
Crop tolerance to seawater are shown in the following table: Halophytes, or salt loving plants, can be irrigated with pure seawater with the aim to grow fodder crops. A trial was made by Glenn et al. to use halophytes for feeding of sheep and it was concluded that the animals thrived well. Setting the yield of an alfalfa (lucerne) fodder crop irrigated with fresh water (2 kg/m) at 100%, the following results were obtained for the yield of halophytic crops irrigated with seawater: After selecting the most salt tolerant strains, the University of California at Davis has grown barley irrigated with pure seawater and