Desert ceanothus, also known as buckbrush and Gregg hornbrush, 

 is a stout, intricately branched, sometimes evergreen shrub, com- 

 monly 2 to 5 feet in height. This shrub commemorates its discov- 

 erer, Dr. Josiah Gregg (1806-49), a diligent explorer and collector of 

 the botany of the Southwest, and author of a popular book, The 

 Commerce of the Prairies, concerning the early West. Gregg met a 

 tragic fate, dying of starvation in the Trinity River wilderness in 

 northern California. This species named in his honor inhabits deserts 

 and foothills from western Texas to central Nevada and southeastern 

 California and extends practically to the southern border of Mexico. 

 It grows mainly on slopes in dry, clayey, or sandy soils in semi- 

 desert areas of the pinon- juniper and creosotebush belts, chiefly at 

 elevations of 3,500 to 7,000 feet. It is frequently associated with 

 manzanita, oak, and mimosa, and is often abundant enough to form 

 dense stands which lend a characteristic aspect to the landscape. 



Although inferior in general palatability to some of its congeners, 

 such as deerbrush (C. integerrimus) and Fendler ceanothus (G. 

 fendleri), desert ceanothus, when abundant, is an important browse 

 species on many areas, especially as emergency feed, or when grow- 

 ing on winter, spring, or heavily used ranges. It is grazed year- 

 long in southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Grazing ani- 

 mals generally prefer the more palatable grasses and weeds and 

 tend to crop such plants closely before turning to this species. 

 Desert ceanothus' palatability is regarded as fair or fairly good 

 for cattle ? fair for sheep, and good for goats on forest range in 

 New Mexico. On similar range in Arizona it rates as fair to good 

 for cattle, and fairly good to very good for sheep and goats, par- 

 ticularly the latter. On the Kaibab Plateau of northern Arizona 

 it ranks as fairly good deer feed. Because of their smaller mouths 

 and more flexible lips, sheep, goats, and deer can, if necessary, utilize 

 the foliage of this shrub much more closely than can cattle, which 

 find the numerous short rigid twigs a hindrance. Chapline 1 lists 

 the species as one of the outstanding southwestern goat browses. 

 The more or less evergreen character of the foliage is conducive to 

 prolonged utilization, especially in late fall, winter, and early spring. 

 As a general rule, close use of this species, at least on summer cattle 

 and sheep range, indicates overstocking or possible range deteriora- 

 tion. 



The short, stout, rigid twigs, pale and finely woolly when young, 

 are grayish to olive green in color when mature and usually have 

 bluntish but spinelike, mostly leafless tips. The white flowers are 

 likely to be present at almost any time during the growing season, 

 since this species, which usually flowers from March to July, de- 

 pending upon the rains, frequently has another blossoming period 

 extending from August to October. This species strongly resembles 

 wedgeleaf ceanothus (C. cuneatus) of California and Oregon, and 

 a familiarity with either species aids in identifying the other. 



1 Chapline, W. R. PRODUCTION OF GOATS ON FAR WESTERN RANGES. U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Bull. 749, 35 pp., illus. 1919. 



