122 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
4 
rest of the continental species are indigenous to the region from west _ 
Texas to California and south into Lower California and Mexico. — 
The genus, therefore, may be regarded as typical of warm, dry. | 
climates; in general, the herbage is of low value for cattle but 
moderately palatable to goats. 
Wright silktassel (Garrya wrighti2) is a shrub, known by a variety 
of local names—bearberry, chaparral, coffee berry, feverbush, gray- 
leaf dogwood, and quinine-bush, varying from 114 to 10 feet 
high, the branches more or less four angled. The leaves are thick, 
leathery, and evergreen. As is the rule in garryas, practically all 
parts of the plant are permeated with an intensely bitter, quinine- 
like principle. It grows from extreme western Texas to central 
and southern Arizona, being found on dry, rocky hills and canyons, 
more especially in the woodland (pifon-juniper) type, at 5,000 to 
8,000 feet, associated with oak brush, mountain-mahogany, man- 
zanitas, and Rhus spp. In many places this evergreen shrub is re- 
garded as worthless or of but slight value for livestock, but in 
southern Arizona it is sometimes grazed moderately by cattle from 
December to June. Chapline (15) reports its palatability as mod- 
erately high for goats, especially in summer. 
Tasseltree (CG. elliptica), sometimes called tree silktassel, ranges 
from Oregon to California and is grazed to some extent by goats. 
It appears to be the only arborescent species of the genus outside of 
Mexico and the only one in cultivation (3). 
Goldman silktassel (@. goldmaniz) of western Texas and southern 
New Mexico, an unusually small and hairy species, is generally 
regarded as good goat feed. 
HEATH FAMILY (ERICACEAE) 
This family is to a large extent an aggregation of cold northern 
bog and forest inhabiting species. Except Gaultheria the native 
northern ericaceous species occurring in moist sites appear to be 
largely more or less poisonous. In the Southwest the family is rep- 
resented only by the dryland (xerophytic) hard-leaved genera, 
Arbutus and Arctostaphylos, which are both harmless groups. As 
a family, ericaceous plants are noteworthy for their predilection for 
acid (sour) souls. 
BOG-ROSEMARY (ANDROMEDA) 
Bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), known also as wild rose- 
mary, marsh holy-rose, and moorwort, laps over from the far North 
into Washington and Idaho and occurs in cold bogs of both hemis- 
pheres. It is a rather small bush, 1 to 3 feet high, with evergreen, 
narrow, acid-tasting leaves, whitish beneath. Many botanists re- 
gard this as the only species of the genus. Like many other species 
of this family, bog-rosemary contains the virulently poisonous glu- 
coside andromedotoxin ?° (95). This species, however, has seldom, 
if ever, figured in western losses of range livestock, as it is probably 
2° Andromedotoxin (Cs:Hs:0;9) is a virulently poisonous bitter-tasting substance found 
in Andromeda and some other ericaceous genera. It occurs as white, needlelike crystals, 
is ‘more emetic than emetin,” and causes vertigo, arrest of blood circulation, and paraly- 
sis of the brain centers, 
