Laserfiche WebLink
Sometimes tuber starwort is rather heavily grazed by sheep and cattle, but such <br />extreme use is associated with overgrazing and other abnormal conditions. The <br />amount of forage produced per plant is small despite that this is one of the <br />largest plants in the genus. The tuberous rootstocks are edible and, when fresh <br />and fleshy, are quite palatable. These rootstocks enable the species to propa- <br />gate vegetatively, as well as from seed. <br />Shrubs <br />Amelanchier alnifolia <br />(Common Serviceberry) <br />Common serviceberry, without a doubt, is the most widely distributed and best <br />known of the 19 or more species of Amelanchier occurring in the West. Locally, <br />and perhaps rather generally, it may be known as saskatoon, alderleaf sarvis- <br />berry, western serviceberry, western juneberry, or pigeonberry. It is a low <br />shrub, from 3 to 15 feet in height, or else a small tree up to 20 or more feet <br />• tall, with dark grayish twigs and usually dark green foliage. The leaves are <br />generally elliptic or rounded, distinctly toothed above the middle, hairless on <br />the upper side and short -woolly underneath when young, but becoming hairless in <br />age. However, the species is variable, and its exact delimitation has not been <br />determined, especially with reference to the closely related and very similar <br />Pacific serviceberry (A. florida). <br />The wide distribution of common serviceberry is largely due to its unusual abi- <br />lity to grow under a great variety of environmental conditions. It is found on <br />dry, rocky slopes in the full sunlight or in the partial shade of coniferous tim- <br />ber; it also occurs on moist deep and fertile soils frequently forming an under- <br />brush in aspen and lodgepole pine. It is probably most common in the upper <br />limits of the ponderosa -pine belt, but it occurs from near sea level in Washing- <br />ton and northward to over 9,000 feet in the Sierras and Rockies. Sometimes this <br />species is locally abundant, but it generally appears more or less scattered <br />along with such other shrubs as manzanita, thimbleberry, Gambel oak, and cher- <br />ries. In the shrub form, common serviceberry is a low, many -stemmed plant, often <br />having a spread of 6 feet, or more. Under favorable conditions, however, the <br />•� young plants may be sparsely stemmed and soon assume a tree.habit of growth. In <br />2-86 <br />