Chamise, also known as chamiso and greasewood, is a common, exclusively 

 California!!, evergreen shrub of the rose family, occurring in the foothills 

 of the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range from Mendociuo and Lake Counties 

 south to Lower California. The generic name, Adenostoma, from two Greek 

 words, adenos' (gland's) + stoma (mouth) alludes to the five small glands 

 on the upper inside margin of the calyx tube. The specific name is a Latin 

 adjective derived from fasciculus (a little bundle) and refers to the conspicu- 

 ously clustered (fascicled) arrangement of the small leaves. The common 

 names chamiso and chamise are from the Spanish, chamiza (a kind of wild 

 cane, or reed), cognate with the Spanish word chamizal, chamise thicket, 

 and appears to refer to the dense thickets formed by this shrub, suggesting an 

 impenetrable stand of cane, or reed. 



Chamise inhabits mountain slopes and ridges at elevations of from 500 

 to 5,000 feet, forming dense brushfields of several thousand acres, occurring 

 either in pure stands or in combination with other chaparral species. Jepson 1 

 refers to it as the most abundant and characteristic bush in the higher foot- 

 hills of cismontane California, commonly gregarious and often forming a dis- 

 tinct zone between the lower foothills and the yellow pine belt. Although the 

 species dominates vast areas its belt is discontinuous. 



Chamise is one of the most unpalatable shrubs in California, lacks forage 

 value for domestic livestock, and is of but slight importance as a winter 

 browse for deer. Stockmen frequently consider it a pest because of its 

 tendency to crowd out palatable plants over vast areas, and it often constitutes 

 a barrier to the use of isolated feed types and the seasonal migration of live- 

 stock. Pursuant to an experimental burn on the Mendocino National Forest, 

 many chamise seedlings came in the first year, and the seedling leaf type 

 was found to be fairly palatable to sheep and cattle. The rather succulent and 

 delicate sprouts produced by chamise the first season following the fire were 

 rather extensively grazed by the livestock but, after the first year, these sprays 

 were largely inedible. Sporadic attempts to replace chamise by burning have 

 thus far proved impractical as an improved permanent type of vegetation has 

 not resulted. The plant quickly reestablishes itself both by vegetative and 

 seed reproduction and rapidly increases both its range and density except 

 possibly where soil fertility has been seriously impaired by recurrent burns. 



Chamise is an excellent example of fire-type chaparral. It combines excep- 

 tional powers of reproduction with ability to grow on such poor and depleted 

 sites as dry, hot slopes. Hot, rainless summers create a very dangerous situa- 

 tion in areas dominated by dense brushfields of chamise and other chaparral, 

 as this brush type is then highly inflammable and will ignite readily at the 

 crown. Such fires spread rapidly where fanned by high winds accompanied 

 by low humidity. However, when calm weather and high humidity prevail, 

 chamise crown fires drop to the ground and become inactive or greatly 

 subdued. 



In southern California, chamise provides protection for very valuable water- 

 sheds from erosion as its thick canopy and the numerous roots prevent rapid 

 run-off and soil loss. Very little duff collects under mature chamise stands, 

 since the leaves are small and evergreen, and the infertile soil prohibits the 

 growth of weeds and grasses. 



Chamise is a rigid, spreading, leafy shrub from 2 to 10 feet in height, or 

 occasionally somewhat taller. Its slender branches are wandlike and the 

 grayish or reddish brown bark becomes shreddy in age. The bush has a 

 heathlike appearance, principally because it is so densely clothed throughout 

 with clusters of small, green, resinous leaves. It is noteworthy that, although 

 the leaves are characteristically smooth or un toothed (entire) on the margins, 

 those of the seedlings are lobed or divided and are usually arranged singly on 

 the young stems. The open and graceful, pyramidal clusters of small white 

 flowers are borne in June. The calyx tube persists at maturity and surrounds 

 the small, hard, one-seeded fruit. 



1 .Tepson, W. L. A MANUAL OF THE FLOWERINC, PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA. 1,238 pp., illus. 

 Berkeley, Calif. [1925.] 



