B81 



YELLOWLEAF SILKTASSEL 



Gar'rya flaves'cens 



Flower clusters (spikes, amcnts, or 

 catkins) hanging from leaf axils, 

 bracted; bracts paired, united, each 

 pair at right angles to pair immediately 

 above and below 



Flowers small, without petals, of 2 

 kinds: male (staminate) and femalo 

 (pistillate), borne on separate plants 



Male flowers 3 in each bract; outer 

 united flower parts (calyx) 4-parted 

 into linear segments; stamens 4 ; stamen 

 stalks (filaments) distinct 



Female flowers solitary in each bract; 

 calyx 2-lobed; seed-producing organ 

 (ovary) tipped by , 2 threadlike, per- 

 sistent stalks (styles) 



Fruit (berry) somewhat globe-shaped, 

 '/ t in. in diameter, silky-hairy, with 

 outer covering free> from the pulpy 

 portion and dry and .brittle at maturity 



Leaves opposite, evergreen, leathery, 

 entire, egg-shaped to oblong, scatter- 

 ingly appressed-hairy above, .densely 

 silky-hairy .beneath, pointed at each 

 end, tipped by- a tiny recurved, point; 

 leafstalks short, grown together at 

 base 



Stems up to 12 ft. high, grayish; 

 branchlets opposite, 4-angled 



Although the herbage of this evergreen shrub is beset with a whitish bloom 

 and has a distinct grayish cast, the older leaves are faintly yellowish or golden. 

 Yellowleaf silktassel has a rather restricted range, occurring in the desert- 

 shrub, sagebrush, and pinon belts, chiefly on hillsides and in canyons in rather 

 dry soils, from southeastern California and Arizona to southern Utah and 

 Nevada. It is abundant in parts of Arizona. The leaves and twigs have a 

 bitter flavor and, despite its evergreen habit, the plant is practically worthless 

 as cattle and sheep browse under normal conditions. It is utilized to some 

 extent by goats. 



