IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 115 
a 
interest as the native host plant of the wild cotton boll weevil 
(Anthonomous grandis thurberiae), which also feeds on cultivated 
cotton (44). 
Of the 12 western species of abutilon (Adutilon spp.) a few are 
undershrubby. In western Texas there also occurs one undershrub- 
by species each of the abutilonlike genera Pseudabutilon and Wissa- 
dula. These may have a little local value on sheep or goat range. 
On the islands off the southern California coast, forming a re- 
markable botanical relict, occur two species of treemallow (Lavatera 
spp.) which are said to be grazed by the goats there. One of these 
species, California treemallow (L. assurgentifiora), is cultivated 
as an ornamental. The treemallows are fiber plants. 
By far the largest of the western mallow family genera is globe- 
mallow (Sphaeraicea spp., including the genera Malvastrum and 
Phymosia, syn. Iliamna, of some authors) with about 60 species; 
perhaps 10 of these might be classed as undershrubs, some of them 
being fairly good to good sheep and goat feed. The forage status 
of the genus, however, will be discussed in a forthcoming bulletin 
on range weeds. 
CACAO FAMILY (STERCULIACEAE) 
The most familiar western representative of this essentially 
tropical family is probably flannelbush (/’remontodendron califor- 
nicum, syn. Fremontia californica), a shrub or small tree of Cali- 
fornia, known locally as Frémontia, mountain leatherwood, and slip- 
pery elm. Its twigs are browsed by cattle and sheep and its growth 
affords protective cover to the low, dry rocky slopes and foothills 
it inhabits. Two shrubby species of Ayenia occur in western Texas, 
but are probably not grazed by livestock. Melochia pyramidata 
and Waltheria americana, two shrubs widely distributed in the 
warmer portions of both hemispheres, occur in the southern United 
States and are likely to be found in southern Arizona and New 
Mexico; both are known to be palatable to livestock. 
OCOTILLO FAMILY (FOUQUIERIACEAE) 
Only one species of this family occurs in the United States, viz, 
ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), frequently called candlewood and 
coachwhip (pl. 8, B), a shrub, leafless for most of the year and of 
no recorded forage value, worthy of mention here because of its 
abundance in desert regions from western Texas to southeastern 
California and south into Mexico. Its flowers and fruiting capsules 
are a source of food supply to the Coahuila Indians. The bark 
contains resins and waxes. 
ALL-THORN FAMILY (KOEBERLINIACEAE) 
This anomalous family, merged by most of the older botanists in 
Simaroubaceae or Rutaceae, is represented by two practically leaf- 
less monotypic southwestern genera, Canotia and Koeberlinia. The 
leaves are represented by small, early deciduous scales and are mere 
rudiments. Photosynthesis takes place through the stomata of the 
“green stems. 
