Atriplex hortensis
Orache is a soft, mild leafy green with leaves that may be green, red, or purple. Garden orache is an old cultivated vegetable; several wild Atriplex species also occur around saline ground.1
Further notes
The coastal orache described by UMaine also goes by saltbush: it grows in salty soils around Maine’s marshy inlets and tidal rivers.1
Orache, beet, spinach, and lamb’s-quarters sit near one another botanically. Their shared family connection helps explain why several unrelated-looking plants can all read as mild, mineral greens.
Footnotes
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University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Facts on Edible Wild Greens in Maine,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩ ↩2