SALTBUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES IN THE UNITED STATES 29 
This suggests the possibility of growing it as a hay crop in that 
region. The green plants, wherever they erow, are eaten freely by 
all kinds of range stock. The possibilities of usefulness of this 
plant have been appreciated by only a few people as yet. 
FROELICHIA FLORIDANA (Nutt.) Mog. 
Froelichia floridana is a tall, slender herb, known locally as cotton- 
head, which grows in the Southeastern States. 
A ‘sample analyzed in the Florida experiment station (24) con- 
tained, on an air- dry basis, 10.8 per cent of moisture, and, on a 
water-free basis, 5.7 per cent of ash, 2.2 per cent of ether extract, 
36.5 per cent of crude fiber, 51.2 per cent of nitrogen-free extract, 
and 4.4 per cent of protein. 
The Florida experiment station (24) reports that this species is 
eaten by livestock in the Southeastern States. Other very nearly 
related species growing as scattered plants on the hillsides and mesas 
of the arid Southwestern States are eaten fr eely by livestock. They 
are not usually very abundant in any place, but the total quantity 
of forage they produce is large and seems to be appreciated by range 
livestock. 
GOMPHRENA SONORAE Torr. 
Gomphrena sonorae is an erect, branching annual that grows to a 
height of 2 feet or less, depending on the quantity of water it gets. 
Its stems are pale yellow or reddish. Its leaves are 1 to 2 inches 
long and about one-fourth as wide, oblong, yellowish-green, and 
softly hairy. Its flowers suggest pink and white varieties of the 
cultivated bachelor button. The fruits are covered with white cot- 
tony hairs. 
This species grows in some abundance on the foothills and plains 
beyond the mountains of southern Arizona and California and 
adjacent Mexico. It rarely makes pure stands. 
Department sample 8945 (G), consisting of mature leafy plants in 
full fruit, cut just above the eround in the foothills of the Santa 
Rita Mountains of southern Arizona, September 24, 1907, contained, 
on an air-dry basis, 6.5 per cent of moisture, and, on a water- free 
basis, 8 per cent of ash, 2 per cent of ether extract, 33.2 per cent of 
crude fiber, 50.6 per cent of nitrogen-free extract, 6.2 per cent of 
protein, and 19.1 per cent of pentosans. 
G. sonorae ae to make up the summer forage of the region 
where it grows. Its absence on the open range, as compared with 
its abundance on protected ranges, shows that livestock eat it freely 
during the growing season. 
TIDESTROMIA LANUGINOSA (Nutt.) Standl.1s 
Tidestromia lanuginosa is a low, spreading annual, 4 to 6 inches 
high and 18 inches to 3 feet across. It is ashy white and densely 
covered with white stellate hairs that disappear from the older 
stems, which turn dull reddish. The leaves are an inch long or 
less and half as wide, rounded above and tapering below. "The 
flowers are very small and the fruit is equally inconspicuous. 
3 Cladothrix lanuginosa Nuttall, 
