16 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



Many of these plants are dominant species over special areas and 

 not only give color and character to the desert but have important 

 value as forage, cover, windbreak, shade, conservers of soil and 

 moisture, or shelter for birds and mammals. 



So much is said of the sagebrush and the " sagebrush country " 

 that a word of explanation seems necessary. The name is well 

 fixed by long usage and well defined, but the plants have no rela- 

 tion to the real sages (Salvia) and other pungent mints. The sage- 

 brushes are all shrubby wormwoods of the order Compositae, silvery- 

 leaved desert shrubs, strongly and pleasantly aromatic, intensely 

 bitter to the taste, and many of them beautiful and graceful little 

 shrubs or diminutive desert trees. 



A pure stand of the commonest of the sagebrushes (Artemisia 

 tridentata) growing over a rich-soiled but arid valley, makes a 

 beautiful display of silvery gray-green and feathery foliage, and a 

 single bush by itself, 2 to 6 feet high, is a perfect diminutive tree 

 that might grace the rarest garden (pi. 7). There are half a dozen 

 distinct species Artemisia tridentata, angustifolia, trifida, arbuscula, 

 cana, borealis, pedatifida, spinescens, and some others all true sage- 

 brushes. They are not good forage plants or they would have dis- 

 appeared years ago, but in the absence of all other food sheep will 

 live on them for a short time and often browse them severely. Sage 

 hens will eat the leaves when other food is scarce, and even antelope 

 and jack rabbits will nibble them at times. These bushes shade the 

 ground and hold the snow, build up humus, bind the soil, conceal the 

 sage grouse and young antelope, and provide choice fuel for the 

 camp fire. Their* pleasant odor is one of the charms of the desert, 

 and the smell of a dried spray brings back the memory of broad 

 valleys and clean wholesome air. The sagebrush has no direct com- 

 mercial value, but without it or an equivalent, the desert would be 

 poor indeed. 



The rabbitbrush, or golden sage, of the genera Chrysothanwius and 

 Tetradymia,, are often the dominant shrubby growth over part of the 

 valley country of eastern Oregon, giving a golden glow to the vege- 

 tation during the season of flowering or at other times a fine feath- 

 ery gray from the slender leaves and stems. In either leaf or flower 

 they are graceful and attractive plants and besides the important 

 function of giving cover and protection to the soil they serve as 

 shelter and to some extent as food for the animal life. They belong 

 to the same family as the sagebrush and goldenrods. Each has its 

 own peculiar taste and odor, some rank and repellent, others aro- 

 matic and pleasing. The odors of the desert vegetation are as strik- 

 ing as its color and form and to an old inhabitant are among the 

 great attractions of desert life. 



Of the true greasewood only one species, Sarcobatus vermiculatus, 

 comes into Oregon. It is abundant in alkaline valley bottoms and 

 often the dominant shrub, giving its shiny bright-green color to 

 miles of alkali-incrusted playa border or the saline shores of basin 

 lakes. It grows where water is abundant not far below the surface 

 and where most other plants cannot endure the mineral carried in 

 the water. The abundant fleshy and juicy leaves, borne on the 

 spinescent twigs, are soft and rounded, like so many smooth green 

 caterpillars, hence the name vermiculatus. They are also very salty 



