IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 11 
abortion have been attributed to them. Numerous glucosides and 
other alkaloids, as well as volatile oils, have been isolated from 
various coniferous species, but the physiological action of most of 
such compounds is yet obscure. Pott (200) states that, in Europe, 
in the mountainous parts of the Tyrol, Steiermark, and Karnten, 
the foliage of silver fir (Abies pectinata), European larch (Larix 
decidua, syn. L. europaea), Norway spruce (Picea abies, syn. P. 
excelsa) and of various pines is fed extensively to both cattle and 
sheep either as a supplementary feed or as a conditioner. On the 
other hand, most of the livestock losses attributed to conifers have 
been in the Old World; in fact, under American conditions livestock 
losses due to conifers seem to be almost unknown. 
Long (77) cites the case of three heifers which were poisoned by 
cropping Alaska cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) in Kngland. 
After removal to another field, one died but the other two recovered. 
The same author quotes a case from the Journal of the (British) 
Board of Agriculture where four bullocks died apparently as a re- 
sult of eating Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa), another 
west-American species cultivated in England and on the Continent 
as an ornamental. In this instance the fourth stomach of the ani- 
mals was in an inflamed and irritated condition. 
Seeds of pions (Pinus edulis and P. monophylla) are eaten by 
stock, especially by goats. Cattle sometimes exhibit a liking for the 
foliage of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia, perhaps more accu- 
rately known as P. mucronata), and the writer knows of no case of 
serious poisoning attributed to it in the West. Long cites a case in 
England where two sheep nearly died, apparently as a result of 
nipping the bark from a branch of Douglas fir. 
JUNIPERS (JUNIPERUS SPP.) 
This genus is represented in the West by about 13 species. Goats 
and deer, especially in the woodland type of the Southwest, fre- 
quently exhibit a fondness for the berries and to some extent for the 
foliage of certain species, notably alligator juniper (J. pachyphloea), 
Utah juniper (J. utahensis) and one-seed juniper (/. monosperma). 
Pammel (95) quotes Schaffner and Halsted to the effect that the 
eastern red cedar, or Virginia juniper (J. virginiana) poisons goats 
that browse on it, and that its oil (oil of cedar) causes abortion. 
Apparently, however, no case of stock poisoning seems to have been 
reported in connection with the western analogues of red cedar, viz, 
Rocky mountain red cedar, or Colorado juniper (J. scopulorum) and 
western juniper (J. occidentalis). ‘The common juniper (/. com- 
munis) is reported by Pammel as poisonous to goats. Long indi- 
eates that in parts of Europe juniper sprays are cut and fed to stock. 
YEWS (TAXUS SPP.) 
Yews are the best known of the stock-poisoning members of the 
conifer family. Numerous horses, cattle, and other domestic ani- 
mals, deer, rabbits, and other game, and even human beings, have 
died as a result of eating the foliage and fruit of the English yew 
(7. baccata) (77). The old shoots and leaves and the seeds are the 
most poisonous parts. Apparently the fleshy part of the fruit is 
