70 



{Chenopodium spp.) and the kuotweeds (rohiyonum spp.). There are a 

 half dozen species of each that occur in sufficient abundance to be of 

 vahie. They are usually found in broken soil along banks and trails 

 and about desiccated ponds, occupying land in which grasses will uot 

 thrive or from which they have been killed out. 



In the higher foothills and mountains the browsing is principally 

 furnished by such shrubby plants as the willows, shrubby ciniiue-foil 

 [FotentiUa fniticosa), mountain mahogany {Ccrcocarpus 2)arvi/<)lii<.s)j 

 Torrey's nine-bark {Pliy.socarjins torreiji). and Turshia (Purshiu triden- 

 tuia). These are all often so extensively eaten by stock that it is 



difficult to find a plant showing 

 anything like its natural habit of 

 growtb. This is particularly true 

 on the sheep ranges. Shrubby 

 cin(iue-foil was seen in great abun- 

 dance the i)ast season (1897) on the 

 Big Horn Mountains, but wherever 

 the sheep had been ranged to ajiy 

 considerable extent the bushes 

 were so (;losely browsed that it 

 was difficult to get good botanical 

 specimens. The same was true to 

 a great extent with the several 

 species of shrubby willows occur- 

 ring on the same mountains. 



Wild liciuorice [Glycyrrliiza le^n- 

 dota) is abundant in low, sandy 

 prairies and river bottoms through- 

 out the range region. This plant, 

 ■ regarded as a troublesome weed in 

 the eastern prairie States, is highly 

 esteemed as a forage plant by 

 many ranciiers. It is often pres- 

 ent in abundance in the hay ob- 

 tained from river-bottom meadows, 

 and such hay is regarded as having high feeding value. In the Big 

 Horn Basin it is fre(iueutly called "wild alfalfa," and many tons of it 

 are cut annually. 



In addition to the various plants mentioned in the preceding pages, 

 all of recognized value as forage producers, there is a long list of plants 

 which, although each is perhaps «.f but little value in itself, when they 

 are considered in the aggregate the amount of forage afforded by them 

 is large. Such are the prairie clovers {I'dalostrmon spp. and Psornlea 

 spp.), the Daleas [Daka <ilopeci(rouhs and V>. aHrat), the bush-peas 

 {Thrrmopfiis m(»itaiut (see tig. 30) and T. rliomhoideo), the herbaceous 

 ciu(iue foils (Z'o<t'/i/<7/rt spp.), wild asters, and many others. 



Fig. 30.— Moutaua buslipea (Thermopsis 

 inontuna). 



