

STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF THE RANGE. 19 



subject of commercial exploitation. It is claimed, especially in 

 southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, that sheep feeding 

 upon this plant in the late winter suffer severely. 



Experimental work has proved that the plant is poisonous to 

 sheep, but it has been found difficult, under corral conditions, to 

 make them eat it. Field observations have shown that in the locali- 

 ties where animals are reported to have suffered, the sheep in the 

 latter part of the winter are frequently kept under conditions closely 

 approaching starvation, and at such times doubtless, by force of 

 circumstances, they would eat more of the plant. It is very much 

 to be doubted if there would be any losses from this plant if bands 

 were properly fed. 



WESTERN SNEEZEWEED (DUGALDIA HOOPESII). 



Western smeezeweed, sometimes called "yellow weed" by the 

 stockmen, is found in great abundance on the sheep ranges of the 

 Wasatch mountains in Utah, especially in localities where the range 

 has been heavily grazed. The plant is distributed in greater or less 

 numbers from Wyoming in the North to New Mexico and Arizona 

 in the South, and as far west as California, but it is in Utah that it 

 has become prominent as a poisonous plant. 



The plant, shown in Plates XXVIII and XXIX, is a stout perennial 

 composite, growing to 2 or 3 feet in height, with thick deep-green 

 leaves. The rays of the flower are of an orange color and the disk 

 a brownish orange; the blossoming period in the Wasatch mountains 

 ends the middle or last of August. Its range in elevation is from 

 7,000 to 10,500 feet. 



Under ordinary range conditions the western sneezeweed seems to 

 be dangerous only to sheep. It has been found to be the cause of 

 what is known in Utah as the "spewing sickness" of sheep, from 

 which there have been quite heavy losses. 



SYMPTOMS OF POISONING BY DUGALDIA. 



The marked symptoms of Dugaldia poisoning are depression, 

 weakness, salivation, and nausea accompanied with vomiting; this 

 latter symptom is so prominent as to have given the disease its 

 popular name. Diarrhea is common, and bloating is a prominent 

 symptom in the animals poisoned on the range. The poison is 

 cumulative, and its effects continue for a long time. 



TREATMENT FOR DUGALDIA POISONING. 



No medicinal remedy for the disease has been found. It is the 

 custom of sheepmen on the Wasatch mountains, when their sheep 

 are found to be " spewing," to take them to lower altitudes on 

 "browse range," when their condition is improved. It is recognized, 



