UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



•PARTMENT BULLETU to. 1245 



Washington, D.C. 



Issued December 22, 1924 

 Revised October, 1929 



STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF THE RANGE 1 



By C. D. Marsh. Physiologist in Charge of Investigations of Stock Poisoning by 

 Plants, Pathological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Prefatory note 1 



Introduction 2 



The grass family (Poaceae) 5 



Sleepy grass ( Stipa vaseyi) 5 



The arrow-grass family (Juncaginaceae) 7 



Arrow grass ( Triglochin maritima) 7 



The lily family (Liliaceae) 7 



Death camas (species of Zygadenus) 7 



The beech family (Fagaceae) 10 



Oak (species of Quercus) 10 



The goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae) 11 



Greasewood (Sarcobatus vermicitlatus) 11 



The crowfoot family (Ranunculaceae) 11 



Larkspurs (species of Delphinium) 11 



The rose family (Rosaceae) 21 



Chokecherry (species of Prunus) 21 



The pulse family (Fabaceae) 22 



Lupines (species of Lupinus) 22 



Poison bean (Daubentonia drummondii).- 23 



Loco weeds (species of Oxytropis and 



Astragalus) _ 24 



Species of Astragalus, poisonous but not 



true locoes 32 



Nontoxic plants suspected of being locoes. 38 



Page 



The buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae) 44 



Coyotillo {Karwinskia humboldtiana) 44 



The parsley family (Apiaceae) 46 



Water hemlock (species of Cicuta) 46 



The heath family (Ericaceae) 48 



The milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae) 54 



Milkweed (species of Asclepias) 54 



The nightshade or potato family (Solanaceac) 59 



The aster family ( Asteraceae) 59 



Cocklebur (species of Xanthium) 59 



Western sneezeweed (Helemum hoopesii) . 61 



Baccharis ramulosa 63 



Parry aster ( Xylorrhiza parryi) 67 



Colorado rubber weed (Actinea richard- 



sonii) 67 



Rayless goldenrod (Aplopappus hetero- 



phyllus) 67 



The fern family (Polypodiaceae) 69 



Bracken (Pteridium aguilinum) 69 



Prevention of losses 70 



PREFATORY NOTE 



It is well known that poisonous plants cause heavy losses of range animals. 

 Statistics in regard to these losses are not available, but from estimates made in 

 many localities it seems probable that the average animal loss must be as great 

 as 3 to 5 per cent, while in some range States it rises to much higher figures. 

 For example, it has been estimated that in Colorado the losses amount to a 

 million dollars annually, while sheep growers in Wyoming have estimated their 

 annual loss at 14.6 per cent. These losses, too, are to a large extent of mature 

 animals, those that are ready or nearly ready for the market, for the rearing of 

 which large sums have already been spent. 



The importance of these severe losses has been recognized by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and extended investigations and experiments have 

 been undertaken to determine what plants were poisonous and under what 

 conditions poisoning took place, and to formulate methods for preventing these 

 deaths. This work has involved prolonged study, and is still in progress. Some 

 very definite results have been obtained, however, and it has been shown that 



1 This bulletin supersedes Department Bulletin 575, issued in 1918. 



45282°— 29 1 i 



