BETTER ADAPTATION OF PLANTS 353 
bunchgrasses that were abundant before settlement by Europeans 
(8). 
Oryzopsis miliacea was introduced into California in 1879. 
Attempts to use it in range seeding programs were unsuccessful 
Not until it was tried in the ash of brush burns was its place in 
revegetation recognized (37, 41). Similarly, in the midwestern 
United States, Zgropyron desertorum (formerly called 4. cristatum) 
was introduced in 1898 and again in 1go06. Not until the 1930’s 
were commercial seedings really successful (14). 
In California Medicago hispida has spread over much of the 
range land. On two terrace soils, however, it has never become 
well established. Trifolium hirtum from Turkey, introduced by 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and 7. incarnatum were 
first tried on these soils in 1944. Trifolium hirtum was so successtul 
that in five years it was in seed production, and many thousands 
of acres were seeded to it and Trifolium incarnatum and T. sub- 
terraneum (38, 44). For the last two species, seed supplies were 
already available. The recent introduction and spectacular adap- 
tation and usefulness of Trifolium hirtum in California is in rather 
direct contradiction to Whaley’s (68) statement. He wrote that 
although imported plants ought to be subjected to continuing 
investigation, “‘We must, however, face the fact that the world’s 
flora is now well known and that the likelihood of discovering a 
plant that will grow satisfactorily in such regions as those with 
which we are concerned, and produce in quantity substances of 
considerable usefulness, is at best slight.’’ 
This brings to mind the work of Duisberg (15). By means of 
alcohol extraction he produced an edible livestock feed from the 
desert shrub, Larrea divaricata. If industrial use could be made of 
associated resins and acids, as well as the feed constituents, per- 
haps the latter could be supplied to the livestock industry at 
economically practical costs. This type of research on plants other 
than grasses and forbs might well pay dividends. 
Experience with Oryzopsis miliacea and Trifolium hirtum indi- 
cate that these species are adapted to certain ecological niches. 
The screening procedure necessary is to find these ecological 
niches. The 7. hirtum story is worth pursuing further. It was 
known that these terrace soils were extremely deficient in phos- 
