Date of Award:

5-1962

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Plants, Soils, and Climate

Department name when degree awarded

Plant Physiology

Committee Chair(s)

H. H. Wiebe

Committee

H. H. Wiebe

Committee

W. S. Boyle

Committee

H. T. Peterson

Committee

L. A. Stoddart

Abstract

Halogeton glomeratus (M. Bieb) C. A. Mey. was introduced into the cold desert of North America sometime prior to 1934. The first collections were made near Wells, Nevada in 1935 (Zappetini, 1953) and the plant now occupies in excess of 10 million acres. The plant is poisonous to livestock. The toxic substances in halogeton are sodium and potassium oxalates which account for 17 to 30 percent of its dry weight, depending on the time of year it is collected (Dye, 1956, and Williams, 1960a). Since the plant is a pioneer invader on disturbed sites in the salt-desert shrub vegetation of the intermountain area, it is an important poisonous weed with which the livestock industry must contend on winter ranges. Fortunately the palatability of halogeton is extremely low and it is seldom eaten by livestock except on sites where it is one of the few sources of forage. However, Cook and his co-workers found that even when halogeton was a major part of the vegetation, sheep did not consume large amounts of the plant unless the seeds remained on the plant (Cook and Stoddart, 1953).

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