6 BULLETIN 1345, U. §. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
This species is native only along the southern California coast and _ 
on the adjacent islands. It has been brought into cultivation in 
California as a hedge plant. Its abundant folage and rapid growth 
make it very productive. 
Department sample 8704 (G), consisting of branches a foot long, 
the growth of a year, collected near Santa Barbara, Calif., Sep- 
tember 13, 1907, contained, on an air-dry basis, 6.5 per cent of 
moisture, and, on a water-free basis, 22.6 per cent of ash, 2.1 per cent 
of ether extract, 22.4 per cent of crude fiber, 27.7 per cent of nitro- 
gen-free extract, 25.2 per cent of protein, and 11.7 per cent of pento- 
sans. 
As a forage plant, A. breweri is freely br weed by range animals. 
ANTRIPLEX CANESCENS (Pursh) Nutt. 
Atriplex canescens (Pl. III, fig. 1) is a pale-gray shrub, from 
2 to 6 feet high, branching from the ground, with gray woody main 
stems that are rigid and somewhat br ittle, and almost white young 
stems, bearing narrow leaves, 114 inches long or less, all young parts 
being densely white and scary The smalk yellowish or greenish 
flowers, borne in panicles at the ends of the stems, are followed on 
the fruiting plants by conspicuous clusters of winged seed pods. The 
four radiating wings of the fruit are usually rather thin, yellow at 
maturity, one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch wide, and coarsely 
notched along the edges. 
This species, which was named from specimens collected on the 
plains of the upper Missouri River near Big Bend, grows on the 
plains and hillsides from western South Dakota and Nebraska west- 
ward to eastern Oregon and California and south to northern Mexico. 
In places it forms almost pure stands over large areas, but mostly it 
is distributed as scattering individuals associated with other shrubs, 
herbs, and grass. It is rarely, if ever, found in the forested areas, 
although it “frequently ¢ erows with scrub oak, mesquite, and catclaw 
in the woodland areas of the southern part of its range, especially 
along the arroyos or dry watercourses. As a rule, it does not grow 
on dr y, gravelly ridges or mesas. It is tolerant of alkali in the soil, 
but it is by no means restricted to such soils. Although it prefers 
a deep sandy loam, it will grow on sandy dunes or tight soils. 
Under certain conditions it reproduces freely from seed and grows 
rapidly. 
Because of its wide distribution it naturally has a number of 
common names. In the literature this species is sometimes called 
shadscale, a name that probably originated in the Great Basin re- 
gion, where the name always refers to another species (A. conferti- 
Folia). On the plains east of the Rockies it is usually called saltbush 
or saltsage, names which are applied to other species as well. In New 
Mexico and Arizona it is usually called sagebrush if no true sage- 
brush is present. It also frequently bears the Mexican name cha- 
mizo, or some Americanized form of it, like chamese. 
Department sample 8342 (G) consists of stems of the year, 3 to 
10 inches long, from both staminate and pistillate plants just be- 
ginning to bloom, collected at Ash F ork, Ariz., May 30, 1906. 
Sample 7234 (W) was collected on the sandhills of the Jornada 
Range Reserve, x. Mex., January, 1915. Sample 7235 (W) was 
oe 
