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IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS re 
basis of 22 years of national forest-range plant collection and anno- 
tation, supplemented by material in the publications shown in the 
lists of literature cited and other publications. The selection is 
admittedly not exhaustive, and further research may bring to light 
other range shrubs of an importance amply justifying treatment 
in a work of this sort. 
Other families are included in the body of the publication which 
are of minor or no value as forage but are important because of 
their abundance, poisonous properties, or some other specific reason. 
Nine plant families of outstanding importance and interest as 
western browse are: The rose family (Rosaceae), including the apple 
(Malaceae) and almond (Amygdalaceae) families of so many pres- 
ent-day botanists; bean or legume family (Fabaceae or Legumi- 
nosae), including the mimosa (Mimosaceae), cassia (Caesalpina- 
ceae), and ratany (Krameriaceae) families of the later botanists; 
aster, or composite family (Asteraceae or Compositae) in a broad 
sense; goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae); buckthorn family 
(Rhamnaceae); oak family (Fagaceae); honeysuckle family (Ca- 
prifoliaceae) ; willow family (Salicaceae), and heath family (EHrica- 
ceae). The greater number of the more important, widely distrib- 
uted, key groups of browse belong to the first eight families enumer- 
ated above. The ninth family is of particular importance as con- 
taining many stock-poisoning shrubs, a very important characteris- 
tic also of the lezume and composite families. 
The rose group (Rosaceae) is, with the possible exception of the 
composites, the most widely developed shrub family in the West and, 
all things considered, is perhaps the most important as range browse. 
It contains a very considerable number of excellent forage shrub 
species, such as mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus), bitterbrush, 
cliffrose, Apache plume (Fallugia), and rose (Rosa). On the other 
hand it includes a number of at best only shghtly or moderately 
palatable shrubs such as ninebark (Opulaster), the spireas (Spiraea 
and Sericotheca), and most of the thimbleberry-blackberry-raspberry 
alliance (Rubus) ; also several genera that are usually either abso- 
lutely or almost worthless from the grazing standpoint, such as 
chamiso (Adenostoma), bearmat (Chamaebatia), blackbrush (Coleo- 
gyne), sibbaldia, and vauquelinia. 
The apple and peach families, treated in most of the older and in 
a few of the modern manuals as subfamilies of the rose family, con- 
tain a considerable number of valuable browse genera. Among such 
may be mentioned at this point serviceberry (Amelanchier), one of 
the most important, widespread, and palatable of the western browse 
genera; mountain-ash (Sorbus); plums, cherries, and chokecherries 
(Prunus spp.) ; hawthorns (Crataegus), and the squaw-apple (Pera- 
phyllum) of the Great Basin region. 
In view of its enormous importance as herbaceous forage it is 
remarkable to find that the bean, or legume, family (Fabaceae or 
Leguminosae), in a restricted sense, furnishes little or no browse on 
western ranges but, on the other hand, produces several toxic woody 
genera, such as locust (Robinia), mescalbean (Sophora), broom 
(Cytisus), and peabush (Parosela). 
Closely allied to the pea family and in fact included in it, as 
subfamilies, by many botanists, especially the older ones, are three 
