Lanceleaf yellowbrush, sometimes called dwarf yellowbrush, is a low woody- 

 based perennial belonging to the rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus) genus of the 

 aster family (Cornpositae). Although most species of this group are called 

 rabbitbrush, the name "lanceleaf yellowbrush" is so commonly applied to 

 C. lanceolatus, because of its lance-shaped leaves, profuse yellow flowers, and 

 yellowish-green herbage, that it is deemed best to adopt it here. The species 

 ranges from Washington to Nevada, Colorado, and Montana at elevations from 

 5,000 to 10,000 feet in the sagebrush, ponderosa-pine, lodgepole-pine, and aspen 

 belts. It is fairly abundant in southern Idaho, northern Nevada, western 

 Wyoming, Utah, and portions of Colorado. Elsewhere in its range it is scat- 

 tered over dry plains and foothills, slopes, ridges, valleys, and canyon bottoms. 

 It is frequently one of the dominant species, in the mixed types from the open 

 aspen and ponderosa pine stands down to the upper reaches of the shadscale 

 association, and is often intermixed with wheatgrasses, needlegrasses, service- 

 berry, snowberry, and lupine. This plant usually occurs, at least sparsely, in 

 most open types of the drier sites within its range, but it is rarely found in 

 pure stands. 



Lanceleaf yellowbrush, although not highly palatable, ranks as an important 

 western forage species because of its abundance. It is by far the most 

 important forage species of this genus whose members, in the main, possess 

 little or no value for domestic livestock. Although cattle and sheep graze 

 it lightly early in the spring, jt is really little used until the middle of August. 

 During the late fall, this shrub is browsed moderately by cattle and sheep 

 and to a less extent by horses. It occurs on some winter ranges where it is 

 moderately palatable to domestic livestock. Deer browse it lightly both sum- 

 mer and winter, and elk eat it in winter. Its forage value for goats is un- 

 known. The leafage and tender part of the stems together with the flower 

 stalks are utilized by sheep, but the flower heads are discarded and often 

 accumulate around the base of the shrubs. 1 



Lanceleaf yellowbrush increases in abundance as more palatable and less 

 resistant species are depleted by overgrazing and, though it withstands heavy 

 grazing very well, it, in turn, eventually succumbs to continued abuse. Samp- 

 son 2 reports that, in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, this shrub "is the most 

 characteristic forerunner of other aggressive perennial plants which gain a 

 foothold as the wheatgrasses are killed out by overgrazing or other adverse 

 factors." Furthermore, this author states that lanceleaf yellowbrush and 

 needlegrass (Stipa Columbian, syn. 8. minor) are the two primary species 

 of a mixed grass-weed consociation which includes a number of palatable 

 species and usually has as high a carrying capacity as the wheatgrass type, 

 or even higher, at least on sheep or common use ranges. 



Lanceleaf yellowbrush, a shrub usually about a foot high (sometimes a 

 little taller), has a stout taproot 4 feet or more in length, from which numer- 

 ous lateral, secondary roots extend. Usually several woody stalks, which 

 branch into numerous slender, leafy stems, ascend from the base. These leafy 

 stems are densely covered with very fine short hairs. The basal portions of 

 the stalks are grayish brown ; the branches are greenish white and somewhat 

 shiny, while the twigs of the current year are pale grayish green. The flat, 

 linear-lance-shaped leaves are from 1 to 1% inches long and about one-eighth 

 to one-fourth of an inch wide, are usually slightly twisted, rough along the 

 edges, covered with very short hairs, and with three (sometimes five) veins. 

 The flowers are borne in small heads grouped in numerous flat or round- 

 topped clusters at the ends of the stems. The absence of petallike ray 

 flowers in lanceleaf yellowbrush (as in all the species of Chrysotha<mnus) 

 and the straight vertical rows of involucre bracts (phyllaries) at once dis- 

 tinguish these plants from the somewhat similar snakeweeds (Gutierrezla-, 

 spp.) with which they are sometimes confused. Each flower head consists 

 of six to eight small, yellow flowers attached to a common base and sur- 

 rounded by 3 or 4 rows of loosely overlapping, greenish yellow bracts. The 

 fruits or "seeds" are covered with fine, appressed rigid hairs and are encircled 

 at the top by a row of dense hairs (pappus) about one-eighth of an inch long. 



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

 101, L'14 pp., illus. 1931. 



2 Sampson, A. W. PLANT SUCCESSION IN KKLATION TO KANCK MVNACE.MENT U S Det 

 Agr. Bull. 791, 70 pp., illus. 1919. 



