B22 

 (leaf 2) 



glowing sunshine of the southwestern summer, and also withstands 

 the frigid rigors of the Arctic. The specific adjective frigida refers 

 to the bleak (frigid) regions of eastern Siberia, where Willdenow 

 (1765-1812), who first named and described this species, procured 

 his type specimen. 



As might be at least partly anticipated from its tremendous range 

 and diverse habitats, fringed sagebrush varies considerably in 

 forage value in different places, although generally regarded as one 

 of the better and more important species of Artemisia. On western 

 ranges it usually rates as good forage for sheep, fairly good for cattle, 

 and fair for deer and elk, especially for late fall, winter, and early 

 spring use. Macoun, 2 in his explorations of the Northwest, reports 

 that this species is important winter feed for cattle throughout upper 

 British Columbia and the dry Northwest ; he adds that local stockmen 

 often prefer it to cured grass or hay because it maintains livestock 

 in sleek and fat condition even in the dead of winter. 



The forage value of this plant is highest in the Southwest, where 

 it rates as fairly good in palatability for cattle and very good for 

 sheep and goats, especially during the winter and spring. It is 

 highly prized as a sheep feed during the lambing season. Undoubt- 

 edly the greater degree of aridity throughout its southern range, 

 with fewer succulent plant associates, and the longer use of this 

 species on fall, winter, and spring range by sheep and goats, tend 

 to enhance the forage value of fringed sagebrush in that region. 3 

 On the cattle ranges of the northern plains and prairies, however, 

 this species is considered practically worthless except, as hitherto 

 indicated, during the late fall and winter. In the Northwest, in 

 fact, fringed sagebrush, by rapidly invading deteriorated ranges, 

 may sometimes rank as an indicator of overgrazing. Macoun, 2 in 

 1875, recognized this fact and stated that, on the benchlands along the 

 lower Thompson River in British Columbia, this species replaced 

 bunchgrass on range depleted by grazing. Thomas P. MacKenzie, 

 Commissioner of Grazing, Department of Lands, British Columbia, 

 also intimates in correspondence with the United States Forest 

 Service that fringed sagebrush becomes an indicator of range deple- 

 tion in that Province; he even notes a close correlation between range 

 depletion and the number of dry cows, and intimates the possible 

 role of fringed sagebrush in that situation. 8 



In the northern Great Plains near Mandan, N. Dak., 4 fringed sage- 

 brush has rapidly invaded depleted ranges and has replaced the 

 better forage species along trails, in pastures, and abandoned farm 

 lands, often forming stands of considerable size and sometimes so 

 dense as to exclude all other vegetation. Wherever abundant in this 

 region it is usually indicative of range deterioration. Chemical 



2 Macoun, J. REPORT ON THE BOTANICAL FEATURES OP THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED FROM 

 VANCOUVER ISLAND TO CARLETON, ON THE SASKATCHEWAN. Canada Geol. Survey Kept. 

 1875-76: 110-232, illus. 1877. 



8 Dayton, W. A. IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 

 101, 214 pp., illus. 1931. 



4 Sarvis, J. T. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND INTENSITIES OF GRAZING UPON THE 



NATIVE VEGETATION AT THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION. U. S. Dept. Agr. 



Bull. 1170, 46 pp., illus. 1923. 



