COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 429 
WOODY ASTER 
Xylorhiza Pdrryi, Gray 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: Late May to June. 
Seed-time: June to early July. ‘ 
Range: Western Wyoming, Colorado, and adjacent Utah. 
Habitat: Alkaline clay soil; range pastures. 
A most pernicious plant, because of its extremely poisonous 
properties. A bulletin of the State Experiment Station of Wyo- 
ming is authority for thestatement that, in the sheep-raising industry 
alone, that commonwealth suffers a yearly loss of more than three 
million dollars, the greater 
part of which is due to 
poisonous plants on the 
pasture ranges, this weed 
being considered by many 
stockmen the most nox- 
ious of all, since at least 
90 per cent of the animals 
affected die. 
Roots thick, strong, 
woody, branching more or 
less just at the surface of 
the ground; from these 
branching, woody crowns 
rise tufts of short branches, four to eight inches in height, forming 
a dense, crowded stool. Leaves alternate, one to two inches long, 
spatulate-linear, sessile, entire, light green, somewhat hoary with a 
thin, soft woolly-hairiness ; usually they are spotted with a brown 
fungus. Heads solitary, terminating the numerous young branches, 
an inch or more broad, with many white rays and yellow disks; 
bracts of the involucre oblong lance-shaped, keeled below, long-. . 
pointed, covered with ashy-gray hair. Achenes white-hairy, with 
a bristly, yellowish pappus. When green and growing, the whole 
plant gives off an unpleasant odor and has a bitter taste. After 
the flowers mature the plant withers and dries, becoming yellowish 
brown in color and losing its noxious qualities, as thereafter the 
Fic. 299. Woody Aster (Xylorhiza Parryt). 
Xt 
