126 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
at subalpine elevations in the Coast Range, Cascades, and Sierras, 
from Washington to California, and often useful in checking erosion 
on slopes. In parts of the Sierra Nevada it is sparingly browsed by 
cattle. 
AZALEAS (AZALEA SPP.) 
Azalea is a genus of about 50 species, mostly Asiatic. Approxi- 
mately 9 species occur in the Eastern (mainly Southeastern) States 
and only 1 species in the West. Many of the best authorities merge 
Azalea in Rhododendron, but, at least in North America, the two 
groups are quite distinct, though it is possible they may intergrade 
in Asia. 
Western azalea (A. occidentalis) (fig. 36) is a handsome, fragrant- 
flowered shrub 2 to 10 feet high. It is often called California azalea 
and is one of the numerous ericaceous shrubs promiscuously called 
laurel, mountain-laurel, sheep laurel, and by other modifications of 
the term laurel. Azalea is not a member of nor closely related to 
the laurel genus (Laurus) or family (Lauraceae), nor does it resem- 
ble them. Western azalea is confined to California and southwestern 
Oregon, occurring on stream banks, about springs, in wooded can- 
yons and the like, on western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and in the 
Coast Range. It is mostly found in conifer woods, in moist rich 
loam, at 1,800 to 5,500 feet, associated with such woody plants as 
alder, willow, cornel, yew, and serviceberry. Contrary to some spe- 
cies of the genus it fiowers from May to July, after the leaves appear. 
In some areas western azalea has a rather bad reputation for poison- 
ing sheep, and occasionally cattle also, especially in spring and in 
new or unfamiliar places (76). Marsh (8/) indicates that the sheep 
losses from western azalea are “ considerabie.” 
False-azalea (Azaleastrum albiflorum, syns. Rhododendron albi- 
forum and Azalea albifiora), known also as white-flowered rhodo- 
dendron and Rocky Mountain rhododendron, is a shrub 2 to 6 feet 
high, which occurs commonly in mountain woods up to alpine eleva- 
tions from British Columbia to northern Oregon, Idaho, and western 
Montana. Recently it has been collected in northwestern Colorado, 
a very considerable extension of range; presumably it occurs also in | 
western Wyoming, but appears never to have been collected there. 
There is practically no question but that the species is poisonous 
($1), and it is reliably reported to have caused sheep losses on the 
Routt National Forest in Colorado, probably as a result of too early 
admission to the range in spring or perhaps of overstocking. Under 
normal range conditions the shrub has a palatability percentage close 
to zero. 
CASSIOPES (CASSIOPE SPP.) 
Cassiope is a group of about 8 or 10 rather low, tufted, evergreen, 
boreal or high-montane, heathlike shrubs, with somewhat the habi- | 
tal aspect of clubmosses. The species are frequently called moss | 
plants, moss-heathers, and white (or pink) heather. Heather, asa | 
generic name, should be confined to the genus Calluna, and heath 
to the genus Erica. 
Two species occur in the Western States, Cassiope mertensiana 
and C. tetragona. ‘These are found only on the summer ranges of 
the high mountains, at alpine-arctic elevations, and are not infre- 
