Aj 
ae 
lis 
_ adapted for this purpose, being aggressive, hardy, and of relatively 
rapid growth. 7 
__ Oxytenia (Oxytenia acerosa) is a shrub (pl. 11, C), 3 to 7 feet 
_ high, with erect (often leafless and rushlike) branches, and pingue- 
_ like leaves. It occurs in dry foothills, canyons, and plains from 
_ southwestern Colorado to southeastern California, mostly in clayey, 
and often alkaline soils. Ordinarily this plant is untouched by live- 
| stock. Local stockmen of southwestern Colorado consider it as 
_ poisonous to cattle. | 
IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 155 
Kupatorium Tribe (Eupatorieae) 
Carphochaete bigelovii, a low shrub or undershrub, rather showy 
when in bloom, 4 to 16 inches high, grows in dry sites on hillsides 
§| and in canyons of the pifon-juniper belt, from southwestern Texas 
_to Arizona and south into Mexico. It is often locally abundant and, 
—} despite the bitter and glandular character of the foliage, is browsed 
}| in southern Arizona. The spelling of the generic name “ Carpo- 
_chaete,” which has crept into the manuals apparently as a typograph- 
ical error, is incorrect. 
BRICKELLBUSHES (COLEOSANTHUS SPP., SYN. BRICKELLIA) 
Coleosanthus (sometimes known as sheathflower) is a genus, con- 
sisting of about 92 species, confined to the New World and largely 
Mexican; 36 of these species occur in the United States, 32 of them 
inhabiting the far West. Of the western species 20 are shrubs or 
undershrubs, 8 species are wholly herbaceous and 4 are on the border 
_line between herbs and undershrubs. Despite the number and abun- 
dance of these plants, especially toward the south, the American 
species are rather unimportant forage plants, their palatability being, 
with perhaps a few exceptions, low, poor, or worthless. Palmer 
_ (139) reports that the Lower Californian species Coleosanthus gla- 
_bratus (syns. Brickellia glabrata, B. brachiata Vasey and Rose, not 
_A. Gray) is very common in parts of that region and is eaten so 
_ generally and closely by domestic animals that he could with difficulty 
collect good botanical specimens of it; Palmer’s notes, however, indi- 
cate that more or less overgrazing obtained in the areas he refers to. 
California brickellbush (C. californicus, syns. Brickellia califor- 
nica, C. albicaulis, C. tener), known also as sage, is an aromatic 
shrub or undershrub, 2 to 3 feet high, ranging from Lower Cali- 
fornia to Colorado and south into Mexico, occurring along dry 
rocky gravelly stream beds and brush-covered foothills and slopes 
up to about 3,000 feet in California and to about 9,000 feet in Arizona 
f and New Mexico. It is worthless to poor sheep and cattle browse 
except in winter when it is sometimes fair. 
Bigleaf brickellbush (C’. floribundus, syn. Brickellia floribunda), 
‘} locally known as wild lilac, a large-leaved shrub 214 to 5 feet high, 
ranges from southern Arizona and New Mexico to Chihuahua and 
Sonora, being often abundant, though usually local, in open grass- 
_weed types, especially in coarse, gravelly soils. Ordinarily its palat- 
ability is low, but in parts of northern New Mexico it is accounted 
fair feed for both cattle and sheep during the montane grazing 
season (approximately June—October). 
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