IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 179 
soils of plains, prairies, and slopes, sometimes occurring up to as 
high as 12,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, but usually at the lower 
elevations. It is often common and abundant and is sometimes a 
pestiferous weed in grainfields, etc., and is a species whose economic 
status is still uncertain. The herbage as a rule is distasteful to live- 
stock, but Griffiths (47) states that the species is of some impor- 
tance as sheep feed-on scab lands in Douglas County, Wash. Ches- 
nut and Wilcox (29) report that stockmen in Montana and Utah 
suspect it of being poisonous, while Schneider (1/8) speaks of it as 
a poisonous plant which requires further study. Britton and Brown 
(14) have called attention to the frequent infestation of this plant 
with round galls up to five-twelfths of an inch in diameter. 
Thorn skeletonplant (Z. spinosa, syn. Pleiacanthus spinosus), 
sometimes called antelope-brush, locust weed, thorn bush, and other 
local names, ranges from British Columbia to California, Arizona, 
and Montana, occurring on sandy, gravelly plains and slopes, rocky 
ridges, scab lands, and the like, between about 3,000 and 8,000 feet. 
It is a rigid, spiny, spreading plant 4 to 24 inches high, with a more 
or less woody crown. While ordinarily worthless or very poor, this 
plant is grazed to some extent by sheep and cattle when succulent 
in the spring and again in fall in portions of Nevada and eastern 
Oregon. 
CLASSIFICATION OF WESTERN BROWSE SPECIES BY 
MISCELLANEOUS USES OR PROPERTIES * 
EDIBLE FRUITS, SEEDS, AND NUTS (EITHER RAW OR COOKED) 
Arbutus menziesii, Arctostaphylos spp., Berberis fendleri, Castanopsis chrys- 
ophylla, Corylus californica, Gaultheria shallon, Grossularia spp., Juglans spp., 
Lepargyrea argentea, L. canadensis, Lycium spp., Morus spp., Odostemon spp., 
Olneya tesota, Opuntia spp., Peraphyllum ramosissimum, Pinus spp., Prosopis 
spp., Prunus spp., Rhamnus spp., Rhus spp., Ribes spp., Rubus spp., Sambucus 
spp., Simmondsia californica, Vaccinium spp., Viburnum spp., Vitis spp., Yucca 
spp., Zizyphus spp. 
LATEX (LAC, RUBBER, SUGAR, ETC.) 
Acacia greggii, Acer spp., Amorpha spp., Chrysothamnus spp., Covillea #tri- 
dentata, Partheniwm spp., Rhus spp. 
MEDICINAL (BARK, FLOWERS, FRUIT, ROOTS, ETC.) 
Adenostoma fasciculatum, Baccharis pilularis, Cassia spp., Chimaphila um- 
bellata, Cytisus scoparius, Eriodictyon californicum, Huonymus atropurpureus, 
Premontodendron californicum, Garrya spp., Gaultheria spp., Ilex verticillata, 
Juniperus communis, Myrica spp., Odostemon spp., Rhamnus purshiana, Rubus 
villosus, Sambucus canadensis, Umbellularia californica, Viburnum spp. 
ORNAMENTALS 
Anisacanthus thurberi, Azalea occidentalis, Azaleastrum albiflorum, Belo- 
perone californica, Calycanthus occidentalis, Cassiope spp., Ceanothus spp., 
Celastrus spp., Celtis spp., Clematis spp., Cornus nuttallii, Crataegus spp., 
Ee 00000 ———— 
% The list is suggestive and admittedly incomplete rather than exhaustive. Other mis- 
cellaneous uses include those species which are bee plants (such as Acacia greggit, Cepha- 
lanthus occidentalis, and Salvia mellifera) ; species which furnish dyes (Such as Krameria 
parvifolia, Odostemon spp., and Ulex europaeus) ; those which are of value in planting 
against erosion (such as Baccharis glutinosa, Grossularia spp., H ymenoclea monogyra, and 
Sambucus microbotrys) ; and those whose wood is locally prized for fuel (such as Cerco- 
carpus and Presopis spp.), for splints (e. g., Yueca spp.), for pipe bowls (e. g., 
Arctostaphylos spp.), etc. 
