IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 57 
feet high and mostly from 10 to 24 inches. The dark slender stems 
are tough and twisted; the leaves are leathery and persistent.” 
Bush cinquefoil is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, 
occurring in Europe and Asia, and in North America from Green- 
land and Labrador to Alaska and south to California, New Mexico, 
Minnesota, Illinois, and New Jersey. It has a wide altitudinal vari- 
ation; and while essentially a species of cool climate, moisture seems 
to be a more controlling factor in its distribution than temperature. 
It occurs from the yellow pine type to above timber line, being 
especially characteristic of moist rocky subalpine meadows, along 
streams, or about cold seeps and springs, mostly in damp to wet, 
peaty, sandy, or clayey loams. 
The flowers are produced season long, from early June until frost. 
The palatability of bush cinquefoil is seldom high, rarely above 
secondary, and frequently negligible. Its forage value varies mate- 
rially with different conditions. On the whole it is distinctly inferior 
and practically worthless for cattle, but for sheep and goats on high 
summer range, especially in the Southwest and in southwestern Mon- 
tana and contiguous portions of southeastern Idaho, it is sometimes 
a rather important browse. Its low habit and spreading branches 
are conducive to utilization. The persistency of the leaves would 
also be in its favor were this not offset by the normal occurrence of 
the shrub on summer range only. In the unusual instances where 
it is found at lower elevations it is apt to be more valuable for fall 
browsing. The leaves, while abundant and of good size, are coarse 
in texture and have an astringent taste. Rydberg (105, p. 5) states 
that in Siberia the dried leaves are used as a substitute for tea. 
Mallow ninebark (Opulaster malvaceus, syn. O. paucifiorus), per- 
haps the most abundant and valuable of the ninebarks, ranges on 
dry, rocky river and lake banks and along small mountain streams 
from western Wyoming to western Montana, Idaho, British Colum- 
bia, Oregon, and Utah. The species produces an immense amount 
of foliage which in some places is lightly grazed, but in others (nota- 
bly in Utah, Idaho, and eastern Oregon) constitutes fairly good 
browse for sheep and goats and occasionally for cattle also. Nine- 
barks (Opulaster** spp.) are represented in the West by about nine 
montane species, though some less conservative authorities would 
increase that number considerably. They have a bushy habit and 
currantlike leaves, and usually occur along streams, in canyons and 
woods, or on rocky slopes and ridges. On the whole their palat- 
ability is inferior, but in some places they furnish fair sheep, goat, 
and cattle browse. A number of them are in the horticultural trade 
as ornamentals. 
BLACKBERRY - RASPBERRY - DEWBERRY - BLACKCAP- THIMBLEBERRY - CLOUDBERRY 
AGGREGATION (RUBUS SPP.) 
A. conservative specific concept would accept approximately 25 
western species of Rubus, including the segregated genera, Bossekia 
1The timber-line and above-timber-line form of the species is apt to have very narrow 
leaflets (as well as to be much gnarled and dwarfed) and has been described as a distinct 
variety or species, D. fruticosa tenuifolia (Willd.) Rydb. (= Potentilla tenuifolia Wilid.), 
but it is questionable whether, in view of the variations of the species, it is desirable to 
give the narrow-leaved state a separate name. 
® Rafinesque’s genus Physocarpa (1836) and Maximowicz’s Physocarpus (1879) are 
Synonyms of Medicus’s Opulaster (1799). 
