RESEARCH SUMMARY 



Shrubs of the sunflower family are among the most common and 

 important plants of the Intermountain area. In many valley, foothill, 

 and mountain locations, composite shrubs, especially the sagebrushes 

 and rabbitbrushes, provide the principal vegetation. These shrubs 

 are invaluable as ground cover on natural and disturbed landscapes, 

 as forage for wild and domestic herbivores, and as habitat for smaller 

 creatures. The authors discuss and review vegetative, floral, and 

 reproductive characteristics, hybridization, distribution and habitat, 

 use, and division into subspecies entries for important Intermountain 

 species. The following genera are covered: Artemisia , Chrysothamnus , 

 Tetradymia , and Xanthoc ephalu m ( Artemisia arbuscula , A. bigelovii , 

 A_. cana, A_. filifolia , A_. frigida , A. longiloba , A_. nova , A. pygmaea , 

 A_. rigida , A_. rothrockii , A_. spinescetis , A. tridentata , A_. tripartita , 

 Chrysothamnus albidus , C. depressus , C_. greeni , C_. linifolius , C_. 

 nauseosus , C_. parryi , C. vaseyi , C_. viscidiflorus , Tetradymia can- 

 escens , T. glabrata , T. nuttallii , T. spinosa , Xanthocephalum micro- 

 cephala, and X.- sarothrae) . Hybridization experiments and the 

 possibility of plant improvement are discussed for section Tridentatae 

 of Artemisia . A key to the taxa discussed is provided. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



We thank the following for technical assistance: Dr. Loran C. 

 Anderson, Dep. of Biological Sciences, Florida State University, 

 Tallahassee, Florida; D. Terrance Booth, Plant Materials Center, 

 Soil Conservation Service, Aberdeen, Idaho; James N. Davis, 

 Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Utah State Division of Wildlife Resources, 

 Provo, Utah; Kenneth R. Genz and Sherel K. Goodrich, Toiyabe 

 National Forest, USDA Forest Service, Reno, Nevada; Dr. Rick G. 

 Kelsey, Wood Chemistry Laboratory, University of Montana, Missoula, 

 Montana; Dr. Edward F. Schlatterer of the Intermountain Region, USDA 

 Forest Service, Ogden, Utah; and Dr. Bruce L. Welch, Shrub Sciences 

 Laboratory, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, 

 Provo, Utah. We give special thanks to Annielane Jones Yazzie for 

 the botanical illustrations and Gary L. Jorgensen for help with Artemisia 

 hybridizations. 



The Snow Field Station, Ephraim, Utah, at which experiments 

 were performed and observations made, is cooperatively maintained by 

 the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Utah State 

 Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah State University, and Snow College. 



