KEY TO IMPORTANT WOODY PLANTS 



109 



5. Buds not evident; spiny-tipped twigs rigid, short, tan or 

 straw-colored, with indistinct leaf scars in axils of which 

 are usually 3 to several tiny stumps where flowers or 

 fruits were attached; roundish leaves persistent on lower 

 twigs, densely whitish-scurfy with branlike scales as are 

 also the few ieaflike fruits sometimes persistent on spiny- 

 tipped twigs; compact, rounded shrubs of dry alkaline 

 sites, Lake, Harney, and Malheur Cos., se. Oreg., not 

 reported from Wash. 



shadscale saltbush (Atriplex confertifolia) . 23 

 Twigs not spiny-tipped; plants armed with thorns (aborted twigs, 

 not leaf-bearing), with spines (strong, woody, sharp-pointed 

 outgrowths mostly from the wood of the twig or stem), and/or with 

 prickles (small, weak, spinelike outgrowths borne irregularly on 

 the bark). 



6. Plants with thorns in leaf scar axils (thorns sometimes lacking 

 on young or sucker shoots); buds small, globe-shaped; bud 

 scales several, overlapping; "berries" (pomelike drupes) per- 

 sistent; small trees or erect shrubs, often thicket-forming; moist 

 sites, flood plains, river valleys, e. Oreg., e. Wash. 



hawthorns (Crataegus spp). 



23 See Evergreen Key for fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), the twigs of 

 which are weakly spiny-tipped and the leaves are winter-persistent. 



,.j \ ^ Undeveloped 

 eaves 



F-49407.! 



