POLY GO MAC EAE 



growth habit. Both are low shrubs clinging tight to the ground but 

 which have flowering stalks six inches or so in height. E. jamesii 

 has umbels of white to pinkish flowers, whereas E_. b ake ri has umbels 

 of bright yellow flowers. These species are scattered sparingly 

 through the mountains of the southwest but are more abundant farther 

 north. As they form dense carpets on gravelly or rocky soil, they 

 constitute excellent soil binders. They are browsed to some extent 

 by sheep and goats and very little by cattle and horses. 



In many parts of the southwest we have annual Buckwheats 

 which come on in abundance in early spring and others which follow 

 the summer rains. These comnonly are upright, very slender plants 

 with a single taproot. They are worthless as forage and have very 

 little effect on checking erosion. They may be good nurse crops for 

 more permanent vegetation in places. It would be interesting to try 

 planting grass seed in the great flats of E. cernu um west of Kingman, 

 Arizona. Such experiments do not seem to have been tried. 



*Rumex hynenosepalus , the Canaigre, is the most common dock in 

 the southwest. It has large, green leaves and fascicles of tuberous 

 roots. It is confined generally to quite sandy, rather dry bottom 

 lands, particularly in the Mesquite belt. The roots contain a high 

 percent of tannin and have been used extensively in the past for 

 tanning,- in fact large quantities of it were formerly dug in the 

 Mesilla Valley region and shipped east. Very indifferent attempts 

 have been made to grow the plant commercially but as the roots are 

 rather slow-growing and as the initiation of the program was left 

 to farmers who were rather indifferent, these attempts have been 

 failures. At present the United States Department of Agriculture 

 is doing considerable work with the plant in attempts to obtain 

 strains which arc rapid-growing or which have more desirable fea- 

 tures than the common run of the plant. Two or three acres were 

 planted in 1937 near Las Cruces, New Mexico. A plant carrying as 

 much tannin as this one is worthy of careful experiments over a 

 number of years. Outside of possible commercial use the Canaigre 

 is valueless. There are other docks in bhe southwest but these are 

 of no significance for erosion control or other purposes. 



CHETTOPODIaCEAE 



*Atriplex canescens is called Chamiza. It has a very wide 

 range in the west, extending from South Dakota to western Texas and 

 Westward to California. Discussions of it common in literature des- 

 cribe it as the plant direct from heaven. It is drought resistant, 

 produces an abundance of palatable food for ail sort of livestock 

 the year round, and produces seed in abundance. From the erosion 

 control standpoint Chamiza is not an ideal plant. The root system 



