WTO 

 (leaf 2) 



units) and are blown away, the remaining stems whiten and tend to separate 

 at the joints into pieces, which, when strewn over the ground, have given rise 

 to the book name cigaretteplant, sometimes applied to this species. 



Broom eriogouum (E. vimi'ncum) has several wiry stems much branched 

 above; the branches have a broomlike appearance, being borne rather stiffly 

 erect. The stalkless, rose-colored, or yellowish flower clusters are scattered. 

 Nowhere throughout its range, from Washington and Idaho to Utah, Arizona, 

 and California, is this annual at all important as a forage plant. 



Sorrell eriogonum (E. polycla'don) is a densely white-woolly annual with 

 erect, many-branched stems from about 12 to 20 inches high. Its numerous, 

 bright rose pink flowers, rather suggestive of sorrel, are borne in slender, one- 

 sided racemes. It occurs scatteringly in dry, open, sandy, or gravelly plains 

 and foothills from western Texas to Arizona, and has a little local utility 

 as a sheep and cattle weed. Bidwell and Wooton * have published a chemical 

 analysis of this plant. 



The perennial eriogonums can be roughly arranged in three groups: (1) 

 herbaceous, (2) partly shrubby, and (3) shrubs. Those species in the first 

 group usually have stout taproots, a basal rosette of leaves, and annually 

 produce herbaceous stems during a relatively short period in the spring, when 

 moisture conditions are favorable. A number of the species in this group are 

 common and widely distributed in the range country. 



Wing eriogonum (E. ala'tum), a large, rather coarse, hairy weed with an 

 erect, more or less leafy main stem, usually from 12 to about 40 inches high, 

 and a much-branched (paniculate) inflorescence, is distributed from southern 

 "Wyoming to Nebraska, Texas, Arizona, and Utah. It prefers dry, sandy soils 

 in open situations, occurring scatteringly among sagebrush and other dry-site 

 plants from the foothills upward to the spruce belt. Where sufficiently abun- 

 dant this is a fair species on southwestern goat and sheep ranges. 



Rush eriogonum (E. ela'tum), so called because of its rushlike, almost leaf- 

 less stems, is another rather tall, perennial, herbaceous eriogonum, sometimes 

 attaining a height of about 3 feet. The common name catsfoot is frequently 

 applied to this plant on account of its rounded clusters of whitish flowers 

 borne principally at the ends of the repeatedly three-forked flowering branches. 

 The erect, long-stalked, basal leaves, especially on the more robust individuals, 

 sometimes strikingly resemble those of a small arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsam- 

 orhiza sagittata). Rush eriogonum prefers the drier, rather rocky sites. Al- 

 though widely distributed and common it occurs from Washington to Idaho, 

 Nevada, and California it lacks forage importance. 



Barestem eriogonum (E. nu'dum), sometimes called tibinagua, varies greatly 

 in aspect and characters ; at least nine of its varieties have been published. 

 Typically, it has tall, slender, hairless steins, with basal leaves arising from 

 a short woody root crown. The slender-stalked leaves are densely short-white- 

 woolly beneath, but soon become hairless on the upper surface, or nearly so. 

 The flowers are usually white, but sometimes are rose-colored or yellow, and 

 are borne in clusters on a repeatedly two- or three-forked inflorescence. Bare- 

 stem eriogonum grows scatteringly throughout the dry hills, valley flats, and 

 mountain slopes from Washington to California and Nevada ; a peculiar form, 

 tentatively identified as this species, has been collected on the Weiser National 

 Forest, west central Idaho. The young, succulent stems are palatable but, later 

 in the season, livestock but rarely display any interest in them. 



Redroot eriogonum (E. racemo' sum) is a white-woolly herb with one or 

 more stoutish stems, usually from 8 to 32 inches high, arising from a thick, 

 red-colored, woody taproot. Stalkless, close-pressed groups of white or pink 

 flowers are borne in one-sided, spikelike clusters (cymes). The petal-like 

 flower lobes (perianth) enlarge as the seed develops. Redroot eriogonum grows 

 scatteringly on dry plains, in canyons, and on mountain slopes of the sagebrush 

 belt upward to the spruce belt, from Colorado to Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. 

 It is hardly important as a forage plant, although deer on the Kaibab Na- 

 tional Forest, northern Arizona, have been reported as eating the stalks. 



Three species of low, more or less cushionlike, eriogonums woody at the base 

 may be mentioned because of their wide distribution and abundance : 



1 Bidwell, G. L., and Wooton, E. O. SALTBUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES IN THE UNITED 

 STATES. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 1345, 40 pp., illus. 1925. 



