IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 19 
| eastern California, however, the species has been found to be worth- 
| less for all classes of livestock. Coville (2S) refers to the very close 
| browsing of this species by sheep in meadows of the Cascade Moun- 
_ tains where, however, overgrazed conditions evidently obtained. 
Ground birch (B. rotundifolia) is regarded by Hadwen and Pal- 
_ mer (57) as one of the six or seven most important summer-grazing 
| plants for reindeer in Alaska, and of limited utility as winter feed. 
Kenai birch (4. kenaica) also provides some summer forage for 
_ the reindeer. 
| HAZELS (CORYLUS SPP.) 
| Beaked hazel (Corylus rostrata) extends westward as far as some 
| localities in North Dakota and Colorado, but probably has no range 
| significance. The following species is the only other western hazel. 
California hazel (C. californica, syn. C. rostrata californica) is 
ordinarily a bush 8 to 10 feet high, but occasionally appears to 
| reach tree size. It occurs from British Columbia to California, be- 
tween 1,500 and 3,000 feet in altitude in the north and 2,500 to 5,000 
| feet toward the south, and is found on moist wooded hillsides, along 
streams, in coves and canyons, and the like: It grows in a consid- 
| erable variety of soils, from rather stiff clays to light gravelly or 
| sandy loams. The flowers appear during February and March; the 
» nuts ripen and drop off the bushes from late September to November. 
California hazel is on some ranges extensively browsed by both 
| cattle and sheep, while in other areas it is wholly neglected or 
| scarcely touched. The species is so local in its distribution and 
| limited in abundance that at best it can hardly be considered more 
_ than a secondary forage species. It is much esteemed locally for 
its sweet, edible nuts and would no doubt be worthy of cultivation 
on their account. The acidity of the involucres of the fruit has 
_ suggested its use as a vermifuge, as a substitute for the pod hairs 
_ of cowage (Stizolobium pruriens). The 2 and 3 year old shoots are 
highly prized by local Indians as warp material in basketry (65, pt. 
me; 389). 
: OAK FAMILY (FAGACEAE) 
Sierra chinquapin (Castanopsis sempervirens), known also as 
bush chinguapin, California chinquapin, goldleaf chinquapin, and 
chaparral, is a spreading shrub, 1 to 8 feet high, with smooth brown- 
ish bark and oblong leaves golden yellow beneath and 11% to 3 inches 
long. The species is apparently confined to California, and chiefly 
to dry gravelly or rocky slopes and ridges of the Sierra Nevada. 
From the range viewpoint the species may usually be characterized 
as worthless, being seldom touched by livestock. It merits recogni- 
tion here only because of its occasional local abundance and the 
possibility that concentrated feeding on chinquapin leaves may have 
an effect similar to that resulting from excessive oak browsing (p. 21). 
On July 18, 1918, Harriman Bros., sheep permittees on the Shasta 
National Forest, northern California, lost 50 sheep. The stomachs 
of these animals were found to be full of the pollen-covered leaves 
of this species. The nuts of Sierra chinquapin are sweet and edible. 
Scrub tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflora echinoides, syns. Quercus 
echinoides, Q. densiflora echinoides, and Pasania densiflora echinot- 
des), also known as dwarf tanbark and hedgehog oak, is a leathery- 
