IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS. 37 



main seed crop is not ripened until about September 1. The vitality 

 of the seed, according to tests made in 1908-1909, is low, an average 

 for the two seasons giving only 7.5 per cent. The plant regenerates 

 vegetatively to a marked degree. 



No local species of the family to which wood rush belongs compares 

 with it in forage value, in which respect it is of much more importance 

 than certain species of grasses. It is relished by all classes of stock, 

 but because of being restricted to high mountain lands not usually 

 accessible to cattle and horses it is grazed almost entirely by sheep. 

 The relatively moist and cool soil which it characteristically occupies 

 tends to prevent rapid early spring growth, such as is made by plants 

 in the better-drained and warmer habitats. Wood rush is therefore 

 eaten with avidity when other species of high repute, as forage plants, 

 are well along towards maturity and eaten with little gusto. Both 

 sheep and horses have been observed to graze the leaf blades with 

 eagerness, in preference to certain grasses and forage weeds, late in 

 September. 



Wood rush is able to withstand an unusual amount of trampling 

 and abuse in favorable habitats because of its density of growth. 

 This is due not to a particularly deep-root system, but rather to the 

 density of the roots which ramify through the superficial soil layer, 

 binding it so firmly as to prevent exposure of the roots by trampling. 



NONGRASSLIKE PLANTS. 



Besides the grasslike plants included in the preceding discussion, 

 there are a number of other plants which furnish a large amount of 

 the most valuable forage on the upland ranges. All classes of stock 

 prefer a variety of feed, and sheep probably utilize a greater number 

 of species than any other class. During certain periods of the year 

 and under certain conditions, even where there is an abundance of 

 comparatively palatable grasses, their choice forage is made up 

 almost wholly of weeds and browse. A band of sheep when passing 

 somewhat hastily over a range which supports an admixture of grasses, 

 sedges, rushes, weeds, willows, elders, and the like, first eat the tender 

 weeds and leaves of shrubs, while the grasses are not grazed, except 

 to a limited extent, until the other kinds of forage have been largely 

 consumed. On many of the upland ranges on the Wallowa National 

 Forest there is a superabundance of weeds and here and there a 

 number of shrubs, and since these ranges are accessible in the main 

 only to sheep, the areas supporting these nongrasslike species are 

 very closely cropped. 



Owing to the great variety of this class of feed and the large number 

 of species grazed by sheep, only the species of first importance are 

 discussed. These have been arranged in families and according to 

 their botanical relationships. 



