IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 23 
with young lambs should be handled carefully on ranges where this 
shrub is abundant in order to prevent any possibility of tannic-acid 
poisoning. This species is also of value in preventing erosion. 
Shrub live oak (Q. turbinella, syn. Q. dumosa turbinella) is an 
evergreen bush ranging from Lower California to California, south- 
ern Nevada, southern Utah, and Sonora. It is often a rather valu- 
able browse plant, being of greatest use during the winter season 
and at other times or places when more succulent feed is scarce. 
Its value is doubtless due chiefly to its abundance, its low and ever- 
green habit, and fairly bland properties. Although of more value 
for goats and sheep, it is considered on many ranges in central 
and southern Arizona the chief reserve supply of winter cattle feed. 
Garry oak (@Y. garryana), or Oregon white oak, also frequently 
known as California mountain white oak, is a Pacific tree or shrub, 
and appears to be the only oak in Washington State (99, 7). As this 
is probably the most important of the western timber oaks (130), 
it 1s perhaps somewhat unfortunate that, except in the chaparral 
form, it should be the most nutritious and palatable of the Pacific 
oaks. Mackie (79) states that Garry oak is a fattening feed and that 
its air-dried leaves are much the highest in protein (15.05 per cent, 
air-dry basis; 15.77 per cent, water-free basis) of any of the oaks 
analyzed, and its crude fiber content the lowest (16.26 per cent, air- 
dry; 17.04 per cent, water free). Coville (28) has called attention 
to the great fondness which sheep exhibit for the acorns of this 
species in the Mount Hood grazing district of Oregon. 
Brewer oak (Q. oerstediana, syns. Q. brewert and QY. garryana 
breweri) of California, which is hardly more than a dwarf variety 
of Garry oak, forms pure scrub oak stands on rocky ridges and 
mountain slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Trinity, and Siskiyou Moun- 
tains and furnishes a large amount of fairly palatable sheep, goat, 
and cattle browse; its mast is almost equal to that of Q. garryana. 
However, its growth is sometimes too dense to enable satisfactory 
utilization. 
SHINNERY OAKS 
Havard oak (Q. havardii), prominent among the shinnery (or 
shin) oaks, covers large areas, mainly on sand hills in western Texas 
and eastern New Mexico, often occurring almost to the exclusion 
of any other shrub. This species has a prominent part in the history 
of western oak poisoning, as it is probably more often so involved 
than any other oak except Q. gambelit (84, p. 21-29). It is, how- 
ever, of much importance as forage, and its relatively big and sweet 
acorns are relished by animals and are an asset in its favor. 
Fendler oak ((. pen) ranging on dry hills between about 
5,000 and 7,000 feet from the Panhandle region of Texas to southern 
Colorado, northern New Mexico, and Arizona, and locally furnishing 
fair browse in quantity, is botanically close to Havard oak, but 
somewhat larger. 
Wavyleaf oak (Q. undulata), sometimes called Rocky Mountain 
shin oak, is another important relative of Havard and Fendler 
oaks. It’ grows on dry, rocky mountain ridges and barren hills, 
between about 4,000 and 7,000 feet, often in thickets of vast extent 
and is not infrequently the chief vegetative feature of the landscape. 
