136 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
or gravelly loams. It is a practically unfailing element of the un- 
cderstory in lodgepole pine stands. The flowering period is usually 
in June and July, and the fruit ripens from late July to September. 
Some diversity of opinion exists as to the palatability of grouse 
whortleberry but it is usually considered worthless to poor and, 
on the whole, a distinctly inferior browse; in some places in the 
Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon and elsewhere it is ranked 
fair or even fairly good for sheep, despite its small stature and 
diminutive foliage; but this is due chiefly to its occurrence where 
there are relatively few palatable species. The species is an impor- 
tant food plant for game birds and other wild life, chiefly because 
of the bright-red, well-flavored berries. 
Mountain cranberry, the American form (var. minor) of the typi- 
cally European cowberry (V. vitis-cdaea, syn. V itis-idaea vitis-idaea) , 
frequently called foxberry, a low, somewhat creeping, evergreen 
shrub ranging in rocky open woods from Greenland to Alaska, Al- 
berta, and Massachusetts (also in Europe and Asia) has little if any 
importance for domestic livestock, but is of some value as winter 
browse for reindeer and caribou in Alaska (41). Its rather large, 
red, tart berries (making a first-class jelly) render it an important 
source of domestic fruit supply in Alaska and elsewhere in the far 
North, and also of food for bears, migratory birds, and other wild 
] if : 
pa CRANBERRIES (OXYCOCCUS SPP.) 
Cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpus, syn. Vaccinium macrocar- 
pum), occurs natively from Newfoundland to North Carolina, Ar- 
kansas, and Saskatchewan. 
Small cranberry (0. palustris, syns. O. oxycoccus and V. oxy- 
coccus), sometimes called European cranberry, grows from Green- 
land to Alaska and south to Washington, Michigan, and North Caro- 
lina, and is also found in Europe and Asia. The variety O. palustris 
intermedius (syns. O. oxycoccus intermedius, O. intermedius, and 
V. oxycoccus intermedium), sometimes designated as western cran- 
berry, occurs from British Columbia to northern Idaho and western 
Oregon. 
These cranberries are delicate, trailing, almost vinelike, but some- 
what woody plants and are typical of cold, peaty, acid bogs. They 
have no browse utility, but (at least in the case of O. macrocarpus) 
are a valuable commercial crop on account of their berries and of 
much significance in wild-life conservation as well. 
SNOWBELL OR STORAX FAMILY (STYRACACEAE) 
There are three eastern species of Styrax and one species confined 
to Texas, but the sole far-western representative of this family is 
California snowbell (Styraa californica, syn. 8. officinalis califor- 
nica), a shrub bearing showy white flowers, found in foothills and 
gravelly woodlands of California from 500 to 4,000 feet. This shrub, 
also called California storax and snowdrop bush, is not known to be 
grazed, but further observations as to its palatability are needed. The 
bark of at least one species of the genus is reputed to be poisonous 
( cece The species would probably repay a chemical study, Old 
World snowbells yielding the commercial gums benzoin and storax. 
