IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 137 
OLIVE FAMILY (OLEACEAE) 
ADELIAS (FORESTIERA SPP., SYN. ADELIA) 
This genus is represented in the West by about four species, several 
others occurring in Texas. The palatability of western adelias 
seems to be low. In general they are poor (rarely fair) late and 
early cattle browse, but otherwise worthless. It is quite possible that 
goats crop them to some extent. New Mexican adelia (F'orestiera 
neomexicana), called also false, or swamp, privet, ironwood, and 
tanglebush, is probably the best known of the far-western species. 
This is usually a smooth shrub 4 to 12 feet high but sometimes a 
small tree 20 feet tall, ranging in canyons, along stream courses, in 
parks and browse societies in woodland and semidesert types between 
500 and 7,000 feet, from western Texas to central Utah and southern 
California. 
ASHES (FRAXINUS SPP.) 
At least 15 species of this chiefly arborescent genus occur in the 
West. Several of the species have minor importance as browse 
plants; a number are valued for their wood, as lumber or fuel; about 
sIX or seven are cultivated as ornamentals or street trees, and the 
species of the Southwest often furnish welcome shade to animals 
during the heat of the day. There is a belief among some stockmen 
that the ingestion of considerable quantities of ash leaves by domestic 
animals is apt to cause scours. 
Singleleaf ash (Praxinus anomala), known also as dwarf ash, in- 
teresting botanically because of its usually simple leaves, is a shrub 
or small tree occurring in ravines, arroyos, canyons, and on dry 
rocky hills of the creosote bush and juniper-pinon belts from Nevada 
to western Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. 
Fragrant ash (7. cuspidata), locally known as flowering ash and 
mountain ash, a handsome shrub or low tree with small leaves and 
showy panicles of white fragrant flowers, occurs usually in fairly 
moist sites, canyons, and near streams especially, from western Texas 
to Arizona, Chihuahua, and Coahuila. Both species provide at 
least poor and sometimes fair to fairly good goat, sheep, and 
cattle browse, but are hardly abundant enough to have any great 
significance. 
Leatherleaf ash or desert ash (131) (/. coviacea, syn. F. velutina 
coriacea), growing occasionally to a tree 40 feet high, is found from 
Utah to southern California and Arizona in deserts, canyons, along 
dry watercourses and the like in the creosote bush and sagebrush 
belts. Its thick, persistent, and almost evergreen foliage gives it 
some utility as winter, late fall, and early spring browse. 
Toumey ash (/. attenuata, syns. Ff. toumeyi, F. velutina toumeyt) 
and velvet ash (/’. velutina, syn. Ff. pistaciaefolia), are two some- 
what similar species of the woodland and yellow pine types of the 
Southwest, having more or less hairy and thickish leafiets. The 
Toumey ash ranges from New Mexico to Lower California and 
Chihuahua, and velvet ash, which sometimes appears under the trade 
name “ Arizona ash,” occurs from western Texas to southern Cali- 
fornia and scuth into northern Mexico. /. attenwata and velutina 
are often. out of reach of livestock, but, especially /. velutina, 
occasionally have a little local browse utility analogous to that of 
the related F’. coriacea. 
