Frequently within these pages mention has been made of the commonest
of all our native plants on the Trail--sagebrush. Botanically, it is,
_Artemisia tridentata_. The new Standard Dictionary defines sagebrush
as "any one of the various shrubby species of Artemisia, of the aster
family, growing on the elevated plains of the Western United States,
especially _Artemisia tridentata_, very abundant from Montana to
Colorado and westward." The leaf ends in three points; hence the
adjective tridentata--the three-toothed artemisia.
There are several varieties of sagebrush, and a person not well
acquainted with the desert might easily mistake one for the other.
There are the white sage, a good forage plant for sheep, and the
yellow sage, which, when properly taken, can be made useful for
cattle. Then there is the common variety, the sort named above. This
is not to be mistaken for the prickly greasewood which infests the
more alkaline regions; nor the rabbit-brush with its blossom so like
the goldenrod, but with a very disagreeable odor. No man who knows
will ever buy land where the greasewood grows thickly; it is
unproductive because of the large percentage of alkali. But the
ancient-looking sage is a pretty sure indication of fertility of soil.
Mother Nature is sometimes hard pushed to find dresses for all her
poorer areas; of course the better portions of the land east or west,
north or south, care for their clothes better than do these arid
stretches and the clothing is a richer vegetation.
This ever-gray, little hunger-pinched pygmy among trees looks about as
much like an oak as does a diminutive monkey like a grown man.
A peculiarity of this individual in treedom is that it keeps its
ash-colored leaf until it has a new set to put on in the spring, so
that all winter long it presents the same color as it does in the
summertime. Its bark is loose and shaggy, being shed rapidly, and
gives one the thought of the old grape vine; hanging in bunches, the
bole has always a ragged appearance. It is truly the dry-land plant,
always found where the alkali or water is not too abundant; but in
favored spots where there is only a little dampness and not too much
fierceness of the summer heat it grows eight or ten feet high, making
a body large enough for fence posts. This is extraordinary, for
usually these Liliputian forests do not attain a height of more than
four feet, and often much less. So diminutive are these solemn woods
that the ordinary gang-plow can walk right through them, turning the
shrubbery under like tall grass, although every tree is perfect, just
like the dwarf creations produced by the resourceful Japanese.
The seed of this tiny tree grows on stiff, upright filaments like the
broom-corn straws. These stems are very bitter and are often used by
the range-riders on long rides or roundups to excite the flow of
saliva when thirst overtakes them too far from water. Because of its
bitterness it is often called wormwood.
Not many uses have been found for the wood of these primeval forests.
In many sections the people have nothing but sagebrush for firewood.
The whole tree is used, special stoves, or heaters, being made to
accommodate the whole plant. It is gathered in the following manner:
Two immense T-rails of railroad iron are laid side by side, one
inverted, and securely fastened together; to the ends of these are
hitched two teams of horses or mules, which pulling parallel to each
other, are driven into the standing fairy forests and the swaths of
fallen timber show the track of this unnatural storm. Its roots have
such slight hold on the soil that it easily falls. Wagons and
pitchforks follow, and the whole of the felling is hauled untrimmed to
the home for hand-axing if too large; and it is all burned, top and
root. There is so much vegetable oil in this queer plant that it makes
a fine and very quick fire, green or dry.
After a summer rain there is no aromatic perfume surpassing that of
the odor of sagebrush filling the newly washed air. The mountaineer
who has had to make a trip East gladly opens his window, as his train
pushes back into the habitat of these aromatic shrubs, to get an
early whiff of the health-laden, sage-sweetened atmosphere of the
beloved Westland and homeland.