IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 55 
by chamiso the first season following the fire were extensively grazed 
by livestock but after the first year these sprays were largely ined- 
ible. As a whole the species is practically worthless on the range, 
its only claim to importance being its abundance. 
Adenostoma sparsifolium, the other species of this genus, occurs 
in southern and Lower California, being found mainly in looser 
soils. It has reddish bark on the older stems and yellowish green 
on the younger twigs, sparse and scattered leaves, and larger, very 
fragrant flowers. Mexicans sometimes call it palo amarillo. 
Bearmat (Chamaebatia foliolosa), also known as bear-clover, fern- 
bush, mountain misery, tar-bush, and tarweed, is a low, many- 
branched, resinous, odorous, evergreen shrub about 1 or 2 feet high; 
the thrice-pinnate, fernlike leaves are 2 or 3 inches long, each minute 
leaflet usually tipped with a yellowish resin gland. The flowers ap- 
pear from May to July. The species is indigenous to the Sierra 
Nevada of California, occurring in large patches, often comprising a 
complete local understory in the mixed conifer type, mostly between 
3,000 and 7,000 feet. Plate 2, B shows the characteristic type in 
which bearmat is found. Occasionally a sheep or cow may be ob- 
served to nibble this bush a little but, on the whole, it may be 
regarded as worthless forage. From the grazier’s and forester’s view- 
points its chief significance is that it is a plentiful, undesirable plant 
that prevents useful species from covering the ground. Munns (9/) 
has shown that the species retards restocking of burned-over conifer 
stands and the growth of conifers. The species has been considered 
for commercial distillation of its resinous oils. 
Tansybush (Chamaebatiaria millefolium), frequently called bear- 
mat, bear-clover, chaparral millefolhum or milfoil, fernbush, and 
mountain misery, is an odorous glandular-pubescent and somewhat 
woolly shrub, 2 to 5 or occasionally 8 feet high, ranging from north- 
eastern California and eastern Oregon (where it is usually rather 
rare) to western Wyoming and, through Nevada and Utah, into 
western and southern Arizona. It is a denizen of steep slopes, dry 
ridges, rocky canyons, lava beds, and other dry or fairly dry sites, 
in both limestone and igneous formations, chiefly in the yellow pine 
type and between about 4,000 and 9,000 feet elevation. Although 
ordinarily considered to be worthless and unpalatable it is regarded 
in parts of Arizona as fair sheep and goat browse. 
Blackbrush, or blackbush (Coleogyne ramosissima), is a bush 3 to 
6 feet high with short and rigid spinelike twigs, which ranges from 
southwestern Colorado to Arizona and the Mohave Desert region 
of California. It is the dominant species of the blackbrush forma- 
tion in the Great Basin and inhabits desert mesas and foothills in 
pifion-juniper brush types. The leafage, although too small and 
scanty to furnish much sustenance, is persistent and therefore avail- 
able yearlong. In the Dixie Forest region of southern Utah black- 
brush is widely distributed and locally abundant and occasionally 
furnishes some feed for cattle and sheep in the winter. Its spiny 
character and thick growth make it a pest to the traveler. 
Bush cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa, syn. Potentilla fruticosa) 
(fig. 13), often called shrub or shrubby cinquefoil and known 
locally also as buckbrush, ninebark, and yellow rose, is a much- 
branched, often sprawling, shreddy-barked shrub, seldom over 3 
to) 
