58 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
(=Rubacer) and Oreobatus, of some authors, that have the stems 
at least to some degree woody, the canes of the majority of the 
woody species being biennial. A few of these have limited forage — 
significance; none is important. The densely prickly stems, spraw- 
ling and tangled growth, usually very local occurrence, and at best — 
secondary palatability, are the main factors involved in the forage 
inferiority of the group. Many of these plants are locally prized, 
however, for their very palatable and abundant fruit. 
Whitebark raspberry (7. leucodermis) is fair sheep browse in 
parts of the Northwest. | 
Western red raspberry (72. melanolasius, syn. R. strigosus of 
western authors), common in some sections of the Wasatch Moun- 
tains, is frequently grazed by sheep, and sometimes by cattle, as 
closely as the thorns will permit; it is probable, however, that more 
conservative stocking of the range would result in lessened use of 
this species. 
Whitefiowering raspberry, often cailed thimbleberry (2. par 
viflorus, syns. Bossekia nutkana, B. parviflora, Rubacer parvi- 
florum, and Rubus nutkanus), is a very widely distributed and com- 
mon. woods species, accounted fair sheep feed in parts of the South- 
west and elsewhere. It is occasionally nibbled by cattle, but is 
mostly poor or worthless. 
Salmonberry (2. spectabilis) of the Northwest is seldom grazed 
to any material extent, but in the Wenatchee Forest region (west- 
central Washington) ranks as fair feed for sheep. Its large, deli- 
ciously flavored, salmon-colored berries are everywhere prized but 
especially so in Alaska, where it is reported that the new growth of 
the species is taken by the deer also. 
ROCKSPIREAS (SERICOTHECA SPP., SYN. HOLODISCUS) 
About five species of the spirealike genus Sericotheca occur in the 
West. Their forage value is very limited, the foliage normally being 
of low palatability. 
Creambush (S. discolor, syns. Holodiscus discolor, Schizonotus 
discolor, Spiraea discolor) (fig. 14) ranges from British Columbia 
and Washington to Idaho and California. A luxuriant and largely 
coastal form of this (var. artaefolia of some authors) occurs in cul- 
tivation under the name oceanspray. 
Bush rockspirea (S. dumosa, syns. Holodiscus dumosus, Spiraea 
discolor dumosa, S. dumosa) is very similar to creambush but of 
warmer, more xerophytic climates, occurring from Wyoming to 
Oregon, eastern California, Arizona, and Chihuahua, Mexico. These 
are probably the two commonest, most widely distributed, and best 
known species of the genus. They are usually regarded as of dis- 
tinctly minor range value or unimportant; a few observers, how- 
ever, have locally ranked them as fair browse for sheep and cattle, 
at least in the fall. 
_ Some (especially of the older) botanists have merged the genus in Spiraea, but that 
is bad botany in view of the great differences, especially in fruit characters, between the 
two genera. Sericotheca has also been confused by some with Schizonotus, but that is 
an seat genus with pinnate leaves. Sericotheca seems to have no English name in 
general use. 
