66 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
penetrable thickets. The species is sometimes cultivated in the 
Eastern States as an ornamental. | 
Because of its spinescence and tendency to tangled growth Ore- 
gon crab apple is not a first-class browse plant; moreover, it is often 
inaccessible or too tall for grazing. ‘The foliage, however, is palat- 
able and in some places it ranks as a fair cattle forage. The mostly 
- tawny, oblong, edible fruits have an agreeably acid flavor. | 
Squaw-apple (Peraphyllum ramosissimum) (pl. 4, C) is a mono- 
typic genus, consisting only of this much-branched, rigid-twigged 
shrub, 2 to 6 feet high. It is of an almost innumerable series of 
western shrubs called buckbrush, and is often known locally as wild 
apple or wild peach, and in Oregon as Oregon apple. ‘The char- 
acteristic fasciculation of the leaves at the twig ends is alluded to in 
the generic name, Peraphyllum. 
The species ranges from eastern California to eastern Oregon, 
western Wyoming, northwestern New Mexico, and Nevada. Squaw- 
apple is most characteristic of the juniper and lower yellow pine 
types but occurs both below and above those belts, and has an alti- 
tudinal distribution of 3,000 feet in Oregon to 8,500 to 9,000 feet 
towards the southern limits of its growth. It mainly inhabits dry 
foothill and mountain slopes, especially in sandy loam soils. In 
certain localities in Utah it is the predominating species and else- 
where is very common. The flowers appear with the leaves usually 
between May 10 and June 10, the fruits usually ripening in July. 
Considerable diversity of opinion exists regarding the browse 
value of squaw-apple. In western Colorado it is usually looked on 
as poor, sometimes worthless, and, at best, fair. In the Manti region 
of central Utah Chapline found it to be almost worthless. In east- 
ern Oregon it is commonly considered fair to moderately good sheep 
and cattle browse in the spring and fall but a negligible quantity on 
summer range. In the Dixie Forest region of southwestern Utah 
(where, however, there is much local overgrazing) it has been ranked 
as a valuable browse. In the lava-bed country of northeastern Cali- 
fornia, where the species is often very abundant, it has been termed 
good sheep browse but worthless on horse range. 
ALMOND FAMILY (AMYGDALACEAE) 
CHOKECHERRIES, CHERRIES, AND PLUMS (PRUNUS SPP.) 
The genus Prunus is a very large one, but is almost exclusively 
confined to the Northern Hemisphere. Taking a fairly conservative 
view of the genus and including in it the cherries (Cerasus spp.), 
the chokecherries (Padus spp.), and the laurel-cherries, or cherry- | 
laurels (Laurocerasus spp.), but omitting the peach-almond group _ 
(Amygdalus and H'mplectocladus spp.), 1t consists of at least 125_ 
species. Probably 21 or more native species occur in the Eastern 
States and about 19 in various parts of the West, excluding 2 eastern 
species of wide range. A number of Old World species are in com- 
mon cultivation in the United States, for example, apricot (P. 
armeniaca), common plum (P. domestica), mazzard (P. aviwm), fre- 
quently called sweet cherry, and sour cherry (P. cerasus). Some of 
these have a tendency to escape and become locally naturalized. 
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