142 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
ingly common foothill shrubs of southern California, not occurring 
above about 2,500 feet and often forming practically pure stands 3 to 
5 feet or se high; they are browsed more or less by sheep and goats. 
POTATO FAMILY (SOLANACEAE) 
WOLFBERRIES (LYCIUM SPP.) 
About 16 valid species of the shrubby, usually more or less spi- 
nescent genus Lycium occur in the West—mainly on warm dry open 
plains and foothills of the Southwest. These bushes are common and 
characteristic and a wealth of vernacular names has been bestowed 
upon them, including boxthorn, buckbrush, buckthorn, bullberry, 
chamisa(-o), desert thorn, garambullo, rabbit thorn, squawbush, 
squawthorn, and tomatilla(-o). A number of these have some forage 
utility, especially in winter and at other times of food scarcity, such 
as drought. The berries of many are moderately edible, being eaten 
by children and often highly prized by Indians, and are an impor- 
tant source of food supply of many animals, especially birds and 
desert rodents. In addition to the native species, the Old World 
matrimony-vine (L. halimifolium, syn. L. vulgare), known also as 
bastard jessamine (or jasmine), Duke of Argyll’s tea-tree, and Jack- 
son vine, with often much elongated, climbing or trailing stems, has 
widely escaped from cultivation in the United States and occurs in 
waste places, about settlements, along watercourses, etc., from On- 
tario to Alberta, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Georgia. Pammel 
reports (95) that matrimony-vine is reputed to be poisonous, and 
Lyons (78) states that the roots are medicinal (a diuretic). 
Pale wolfberry (L. pallidum), probably the most widely distrib- 
uted species, is a stout, spiny-twigged, widespreading bush 2 to 5 
feet high, with large showy flowers, ranging from western Texas to 
southwestern Colorado, southern Utah, and southeastern California, 
and south into northern Mexico. It inhabits dry, often alkaline, 
plains and hills between 5,000 and 8,000 feet elevation, both in clays 
and in sandy, gravelly, rocky sites, and is apparently more common in 
the woodland than in the yellow pine type, occurring usually in open 
grass-brush associations. While a secondary browse species, this 
shrub is often locally important and valuable, despite the spininess 
and a palatability which during the growing season is normally not 
greater than fair or fairly good. It is often common and abundant 
on areas where there is little other palatable browse, and on winter 
range it is taken readily by all classes of livestock. The plant is 
hardy and will withstand considerable abuse, sprouting readily from 
the base when cut or broken down. Its berries are among the largest 
and best in the genus. 
Frémont wolfberry (Z. fremontii), a compact rounded bush, 2 to 
6 feet high, of Arizona and southeastern California, is dormant dur- 
ing the dry season but furnishes winter browse on desert ranges 
about Phoenix, Ariz. The species is worthy of further observation 
as a range plant. 
TOBACCOS (NICOTIANA SPP.) 
Tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), known also as coneton, San Juan 
tree, and tronadora, is the only truly woody species of tobacco 
growing in the United States. It is a native of South America, but 
