582 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



bulletins have been published embodying the results of various field 

 studies and leading to conspicuous improvements in range management. 



Detailed information about the more important grazing plants has 

 been in progress of accumulation for a number of years. The portion 

 of this information deemed most useful for forest officers and stock 

 owners who desire to familiarize themselves with the habits and re- 

 quirements of the plants upon which their animals subsist has been 

 brought together by Mr. Sampson in this publication. 



Although all types of grazing lands support a variety of plant species, 

 only a comparatively small number, compared with the whole, are 

 important from a grazing standpoint. The valuable forage plants of 

 a given range are those of wide distribution and abundance, which are 

 also nutritious and relished by the stock. Other plants, although often 

 in abundance, are unpalatable and are of little or no grazing value, 

 while some, because of certain climatic conditions, are poisonous and 

 seriously objectionable on the range. 



Although the investigation of the species upon which the report is 

 based was largely made in the high mountains of Oregon, many of the 

 species are widely distributed, and the genera represented among them 

 are of first importance on many of the natural range lands of the entire 

 West. 



The report considers only the more valuable range species, which 

 include 20 grasses, 5 grass-like plants, and 18 non-grass-like plants. 

 The photographs of each in natural size accompanies the description, 

 except in cases where the general characters of one or more species 

 of the same genus are similar. 



The report is of particular interest, due to the account of the life 

 history and the statements regarding the ecological requirements of the 

 different species. The following points are considered in presenting 

 the information on the individual forage plants : 



1. Name of plant, both Latin and common. 



2. Distribution. 



a. Characteristic zone. 



h. Most typical habitat; abundance and density of stand. 



3. Usual plant associations and communities. 



4. Habit of growth. 



o. Annual or perennial. 



b. Tufted growth, height growth, and character of herbage. 



5. Character of root system. 



a. Spreading fibrous root, or taproot with lateral rhizomes. 



b. Depth of roots in soil. 



6. Ecological requirements. 



a. Soil and moisture preferences. 



b. Drought resistance. 



