IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 153 
seems to be low, the species not being appreciably grazed unless more 
desirable forage is absent. A number of the species are in orna- 
mental cultivation. 
Nannyberry (V. lentago), known also as nannybush, sheepberry, 
and sweet viburnum, is a shrub or small tree which ranges from 
Quebec to Manitoba, Colorado, and Georgia; sheep and goats will 
eat the sweet edible fruits that ripen in September or October. 
Rayless cranberrybush (V. pauciflorum), so named because of the 
lack of the enlarged, outer, rayed flowers characteristic of other 
species, 1s probably the commonest species of viburnum in the west- 
ern States. It occurs in cool, moist, shaded areas, especially north 
slopes, from Newfoundland to Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, and Penn- 
sylvania; it is 2 to 6 feet high and somewhat suggests a currant 
bush; the foliage has low palatability; the acidulous red fruit is 
reported to be used by Alaskan natives in making jelly. 
American cranberrybush (V. ¢ri/obwm)?’ is known also as cramp 
bark, highbush cranberry, wild guelder-rose, and by many other 
vernacular names. The familiar snowball of the gardens is a 
cultivated form with the flowers all neutral, or sterile. This attrac- 
tive shrub, 3 to 13 feet tall, found from Newfoundland to British 
Columbia, Oregon, Michigan, and New Jersey, is not known to have 
material browse significance. The species may, however, have some 
economic value on western ranges, since its bark is listed in the 
United States Pharmacopeeia (78, 60, 144, 61). 
ASTER, OR COMPOSITE, FAMILY (ASTERACEAE, SYN. COMPOSITAE) 
Mutisia Subfamily, or Tribe (Mutisieae)™* 
American trixis (77ixis californica, syns., at least in part, 7’. an- 
gustifolia of United States authors and 7. suffruticosa), locally 
Inown as red sage and sage, is a leafy, shrubby plant, 1 to 4 feet 
high, found in deserts and dry, sandy, gravelly, rocky, open sites 
_at low elevations from southwestern Texas to southern California 
and south into Lower California and Mexico. In many areas it is 
abundant and widespread and is lightly browsed by cattle during 
the winter and early spring despite the wormwoodlike odor and taste. 
Ragweed Subfamily, or Tribe (Ambresieae)” 
BUR-SAGES (FRANSERIA SPP., SYN. GAERTNERIA MEDIC., NOT GAERTNERA 
SCHREB.) 
Members of this genus are frequently called bur ragweed or rag- 
weed, and, if so, are apt to be confused with the ragweed genus 
(Ambrosia spp.). At least 18 species of Franseria occur natively 
in the United States, chiefly in the Southwest; of these about 10 
species are herbs and 8 species more or less shrubby. (With one ex- 
ception the shrubby species of bur-sage are not known to have any 
particular forage significance. Some of the herbaceous species, such 
28 This shrub almost invariably appears in the books under the name either of Viburnum 
opulus L. or else of V. americanum Mill. (not V. opulus americanum Ait.). According 
to S. F. Blake, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, who has made a careful study of the 
matter, the European cranberrybush (V. opulus) is a distinct species confine to the Old 
World; V. americanum is an untenable name (the type in_the British Museum being 
Hydrangea arborescens!); and V. trilobum Marsh. is the oldest tenable name for our 
American cranberrybush, V. opulus americanum Ait. being a synonym thereof. 
22Many authors regard this as a distinct botanical family, Mutisiaceae, 
80'This is the family Ambrosiaceae of many authors, 
