this species is most striking in fall, when the numerous shiny and 

 bright red cherries are displayed. The distribution is limited to 

 the western mountains, occurring from British Columbia to Mon- 

 tana, Arizona, and California. 



Bitter cherry grows from near sea level to an altitude of 3,000 

 feet at its northern extension, but at its southern limits is found 

 chiefly between 5,000 and 9,000 feet. It is generally most abundant 

 in the medium or upper stretches of the ponderosa pine belt, where 

 it frequently occurs in open brush fields as a pure stand or in asso- 

 ciation with snowbrush, manzanita, silktassels (Garry a spp.) and 

 serviceberry. Although it occurs in flats and along streams, it is 

 never abundant in these situations, usually preferring well-drained, 

 moderately fertile but stony sites, on open slopes and ridge tops. 

 Bitter cherry may be rather generally distributed among other 

 browse species, but ordinarily it tends to form patches or extensive 

 tracts, where it is either actually or apparently the dominant plant. 

 These areas are particularly noticeable in the autumn, when the 

 leaves turn yellow after the first frosts. 



Bitter cherry is more palatable than would be expected, consider- 

 ing its bitter leaves, twigs, and fruit. The actual use, however, is 

 often much less than sometimes supposed. This is due to the two 

 facts (1) that the tree form and the older and taller shrubby indi- 

 viduals produce most of their foliage- beyond the reach of livestock, 

 and (2) that, very often, the thickets, which this species forms either 

 alone or with other shrubs, are so dense as to be inaccessible. On 

 most ranges, the palatability of bitter cherry is poor to fair for 

 cattle and fair to fairly good for sheep. In some cases, actual over- 

 grazing occurs usually where this species is a low but readily avail- 

 able shrub, or along driveways, around watering places, or salt logs, 

 where livestock concentrate. Ordinarily, bitter cherry is a late sum- 

 mer feed, usually untouched by livestock until the herbaceous vegeta- 

 tion and highly palatable browse have been largely consumed. 



Apparently, deer and elk outstrip livestock in utilization of bitter 

 cherry, possibly because they frequent the slopes and ridges where it 

 is common. If the species grows on their winter range, these wild 

 animals may even eat the bitter twigs. Birds, squirrels, and bears 

 are only light users of the cherries, probably because of finding them 

 too bitter. Stockmen sometimes claim that bitter cherry is poison- 

 ous. 1 However, the species is probably nonpoisonous, at least under 

 range conditions, and there are no authentic records of livestock 

 losses from its use. The closely related, more erect and treelike 

 chokecherries (such as P. demissa and P. melanocarpa) which have 

 larger leaves, many-flowered showy racemes, and grapelike clusters 

 of black or reddish fruit, are poisonous under some conditions. It 

 seems not unlikely that bitter cherry has been confused with the 

 chokecherries or has undeservedly gained the reputation of being 

 poisonous because of its close relationship to these species. 



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

 101, 214 pp., illus. 1931. 



