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I'~ <br />These woody plants are generally most abundant from the foothills [o Che ponde- <br />rosa-pine belt of [he mountains. They grow in sunny, moist, or relatively dry <br />situations, the largest specimens usually being associated with willows, alders, <br />aspen, and dogwood along the streams in open valleys or in sparsely timbered, <br />warm and sunny canyons. They also grow about springs, seeps, and ocher moist <br />places, but pure and brushy stands are largely limited [o moist or well-drained, <br />warm slopes or sandy flats. They usually occur on deep, rather fertile, sandy <br />soils, but frequently do well on rocky talus slopes and about rim rocks. <br />Although poisonous under some conditions, chokecherries are often grazed moder- <br />ately and in combination with other forage without ill effect. Fortunately they <br />are not of high palatability, the leaves, twigs, and green bark having a bitter <br />flavor, which is not entirely agreeable to livestock. On the open range they <br />rate as poor to fair forage for both cattle and sheep; and, although losses some- <br />times occur, they usually are attributable to abnormal use of chokecherries, as a <br />result of overgrazing or other causes. Most fatalities due to eating these <br />• plants occur in areas where livestock are concentrated, such as about water, in <br />corrals and pastures, and along driveways or near bedgrounds. <br />S~mipfioricarpos oreophilus <br />(Mountain snowberry) <br />Symphoricarpos, a member of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae), is a small <br />genus of chiefly North American shrubs, widely distributed in [he United Slates <br />and southern Canada, and also extending into Mexico. Under a conservative nomen- <br />clature, there are about 12 species of the genus, ten of which occur in the west- <br />ern range country; the other two are largely eastern in their distribution. One <br />species is confined to Mexico, and one additional species grows in China. These <br />shrubs are frequently known on the range by the indistinctive name buckbrush; <br />other coimnon names include Indian current, St. Pe[erswor[, waxberry, and wolf- <br />berry. With one exception, all the United States species have white or slightly <br />pink berries. The white-fruited species are most commonly called snowberries, <br />and [he single red-fruited species (S. orbiculatus) is dubbed coralberry. Many <br />• of the American species are closely related and so similar [hat i[ is difficult. <br />2-91 <br />