W157 

 (leaf 2) 



were discouraging and eventually its production was suspended. 

 Chemical analyses show that the root contains about 70 percent starch 

 and 5 percent sugar. 1 



Indian breadroot is seldom abundant on the range and has little 

 forage value. Some even suspect the herbage of being poisonous, 

 but there seems to be no scientific evidence to substantiate this belief. 

 In general, its palatability is rated worthless to poor for all classes 

 of livestock, although, in some areas, it may occasionally rank as 

 high as fair for sheep. Lewis and Clark 3 stated that this species 

 is a food plant of the brown bear. 



This plant dries up soon after blossoming, breaks off near the 

 ground level and is transformed into a tumbleweed, which blows over 

 the prairies, broadcasting its seed. The egg- to spindle-shaped 

 tuberous root (sometimes clustered), encased in a thick, brown, 

 leathery skin which readily peels off, is sometimes as large as a hen's 

 egg, with the stem scars of previous years plainly visible at the 

 upper end. Indian breadroot is sometimes confused with lupines 

 (Lupinus spp.), due to the general similarity of leaves and flowers. 

 However, our native lupines do not have tuberous roots, and the 

 leaves of Indian breadroot are glandular, dotted underneath. 

 Usually, these dots are easily discernible by holding a leaf in the 

 light. 



SCURFPEAS AND BREADROOTS 



Psora'lea spp., syns. Orbe'xilum spp., Pediome'lum spp., Psorali'dium spp. 



Scurfpeas and breadroots are annual, biennial, or perennial herbs 

 or shrubs of the pea family (Leguminosae) ; our native species, how- 

 ever, are all perennial herbs. The generic name Psoralea comes 

 from the Greek psorcdeos, scabby, or mangy, and alludes to a scurfy 

 or branny indument on some of the species and probably also to the 

 peculiar, dark glandular dots characteristic of the herbage of this 

 genus, which, presumably, reminded the ancients of skin areas af- 

 fected by some eruption. Approximately 115 species occur, princi- 

 pally in the tropics and subtropics, with some 39 species native to 

 the United States. Some 29 species, most of which are characteris- 

 tic of the lower, drier vegetative types, occur in the West; they 

 commonly grow on sandy soils of the plains, prairies, and foothills. 

 Although ordinarily not very abundant and usually appearing in. 

 scattered clumps, they occasionally grow in dense almost pure stands 

 on favorable sites. 



Scurfpeas possess but little forage value, having a palatability 

 of from practically worthless to poor, rarely fair, for sheep and 

 cattle. Some species are distinctly distasteful to grazing animals; 

 chemical analyses have indicated the presence of poisonous com- 

 pounds in certain species. 1 Slender scurfpea (P. tenuiflo'ra) , a 

 native western species, erroneously called Indian turnip, is reputedly 

 poisonous to horses and cattle, and is said to have been used by the 



1 3 See footnotes on preceding page. 



