WESTERN SNEEZEWEED AS A POISONOUS PLANT. 5 



and soniestimes reaches the Arctic alpine zone. Its best habitat is 

 on sunny slopes of the aspen-spruce belt in moist well-drained soil. 

 It thrives in the higher mountain parks of Colorado and Utah and in 

 the upper Kern River watershed in the southern Sierra Nevadas of 

 California. Helenium hoovesii is also found in the Wind River and 

 Teton Mountains, Wyo.; the Caribou Mountains, Idaho; in the Stein 

 Mountains, Oreg.; the Ruby Mountains, Nev. ; and in the Warner 

 Mountains, Calif. In the Sierra Nevadas it has been found north from 

 the Kern River to Clarks Fork, north of Sonora pass on both sides of 

 the range, and also in Washoe County, Nev. In the higher mountains 

 of Arizona and New Mexico it is well distributed. In the Black 

 Mountains and the Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico it is abundant 

 along the streams in the higher mountain canyons. In the Sacra- 

 mento Mountains, N. Mex., it occurs in the bottoms of many of the 



Fig. 2.— Distribution of Helenium hoopesii in the United States. 



higher canyons that are destitute of streams. The White and the 

 Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico and the San Francisco Peaks of 

 Arizona have high mountain parks similar to those of the Rocky 

 Mountains of Colorado and the Wasatch, and in these parks sneeze- 

 weed is abundant. 



In the Wasatch Mountains the blossoming period is from the middle 

 of June to the middle or last of August. In many overgrazed areas 

 it has become the predominant plant. Figure 4 shows how thickly 

 it grows in some localities. 



From the color of the flowers it is sometimes called "yellowweed," 

 and some stockmen called it "sunflower," but in Utah it is most 

 commonly known as "sneezeweed." The Navajos have a name 

 meaning owl's claws. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the plant 

 in the United States. 



