STOCK-POISOXIXG PLANTS OF THE BAXGE 11 



and the grasses have not started, many animals contract so-called 

 ** oak-poisoning," showing constipation, black and bloody feces, ema- 

 ciation, and surface swellings on the body. This condition is so 

 serious as sometimes to cause a considerable number of fatalities. 

 It is not true, however, that oak forage is necessarily harmful. In 

 fact, on many ranges the oaks furnish a very important element in 

 the feed of cattle, and animals generally come from oak ranges in 

 the fall in fine condition. It has been clearly shown that an exclusive 

 diet of oak is likely to result in some sick animals and consequent 

 losses. If there is other forage with the oak. no bad results will fol- 

 low. If cattle, in poor condition as the result of short feed in the 

 winter, are turned upon an oak range where there is little grass, some 

 losses are almost sure to follow. It pays to feed cattle in the winter 

 so as to keep them in good condition, and then they are not likely 

 to overeat when they come in contact with oak. 



Plate 5 shows an overgrazed range in the oak belt of the Wasatch 

 Mountains. It shows how cattle, when driven by lack of other feed, 

 eat oak leaves and twigs as high as they can reach. Figure 4 shows 

 a heifer poisoned by the common scrub oak of Utah, and Figure 5 

 a " shinneried " bull on the plains of western Texas. 



THE GOOSEFOOT FAMILY (CHEXOPODIACEAE) 



GREASEWOOD (SARCOBATUS YERMICULATUS) 



Greasewood (Sarcobattts vernwculafocs) is a well-known plant 

 common on the alkaline plains of the AVest. It is a spiny shrub 

 growing from 3 to 9 feet in height, with narrow, fleshy leaves not 

 exceeding about V 2 inches in length. In Figure 6 is shown a plant, 

 and in Plate G are shown branches with leaves and staminate 

 flowers. 



While greasewood is grazed by sheep on the winter range with no 

 bad effects (as a matter of fact the plant forms an important ele- 

 ment in the winter forage), there have been, under some conditions, 

 severe losses of sheep. If very hungry animals eat a large quantity 

 in a short time, fatal results may follow. Cases are known in which 

 several hundred were lost. 



Figure 7 shows a sheep which was killed by an extract of grease- 

 wood. The picture was taken shortly before its death. The poison- 

 ous effects are produced by the sodium and potassium oxalates in the 

 plant. 



THE CROWFOOT FAMILY (RANUNCULACEAE) 



LARKSPURS (SPECIES OF DELPHINIUM) 



A great many species of lark-purs grow in the western stock 

 ranges, and they are widely distributed throughout the mountain 

 regions which are used for pasturage. These plants when in blossom 

 are very easily recognized by the peculiar form of the flower. Before 

 blossoming there are a few plants with which they may be confined 

 by a person not versed in botany, but it is not particularly difficult for 

 the ordinary observer, after a little experience, to recognize lark- 

 spurs in all stages of growth. While there is a large number of 



