IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS a 
loss have been attributed to them in the West. It is safest, how- 
ever, to keep livestock, especially lambs, away from them in early 
spring. 
cate Labrador-tea (ZL. groenlandicum) is a species of the far 
North, occurring in the western United States only in western Wash- 
ington; it has rusty woolly twigs and lower leaf surfaces and inhab- 
its peaty sphagnum swamps. Its leaves are employed in Greenland 
and Labrador as a substitute for tea and are also used as a tonic 
in lung troubles (278). Curiously enough, Hadwen and Palmer 
(51) rank Alaska tea (this species and L. palustre) as among the 
most important summer reindeer feeds in Alaska, putting them in 
their first series, Group II, although Zedum palustre is ranked low 
in winter for reindeer, being in the third series (ungrouped). 
Crystal-tea (ZL. palustre) is a boreal species, occurring in Alaska 
and northern Canada, whose leaves and twigs contain the glucoside 
- ericolin (C;,H;.O.,) and perhaps the very toxic andromedotoxin as 
well (95). Lyons (78) states that crystal-tea is reputed to be nar- 
cotic, sedative, and insecticide. 
Smooth Labrador-tea (L. glandulosum) (pl. 9, B) is much the 
commonest of west-American ledums in the United States, and 
ranges from British Columbia to California and Wyoming. Ches- 
nut (77) and Jepson (66) have ranked it as a poisonous plant, but 
Marsh (8/) now states that experimental work shows it to be only 
slightly toxic. Schneider (718) says its leaves are used for killing 
vermin on cattle and to drive away fleas from country houses, 
LEUCOTHOES (LEUCOTHOE SPP.) 
This genus consists of about 30 species occurring in North and 
South America and in eastern Asia. Four species are found in the 
Southeastern States and only one in the West. All are evergreen, 
rather handsome shrubs, with persistent leaves. The characteristic 
habitat is along streams and in moist woods, but some species are 
found in swamps. 
Black laurel (Z. davisiae) occurs in the Sierra Nevada of Califor- 
nia; while sometimes both local and rare, it is plentiful and abundant 
in other places. Marsh (8Z) indicates that it is a virulent species, 
stating that very small quantities will poison sheep and that death 
may be produced by 1 or 2 ounces. Hatton (48) states that sheep 
have to be herded away from it to prevent loss, especially among 
lambs. 
MENZIESIAS (MENZIESIA SPP.) 
There are about 7 known species of menziesia, 8 of which occur 
in the United States and 4 in Japan and northeastern Asia. Of the 
American species one is confined to the Allegheny Mountains. The 
two western species are very closely related and many botanists 
unite them. They are sometimes called fools’ huckleberry, minnie- 
bush (a corruption of the Latin name), and skunkbush (because of 
the mephitic odor of the freshly bruised foliage). ’ 
Rusty menziesia (J/. ferruginea), the generic type, has relatively 
thin and sticky, deciduous leaves which unfold in spring with the 
flower clusters. It is a plant of moist open woods, and is a common 
associate of Sitka spruce from Alaska to Oregon along the coast, 
