ABSTRACT
Poisonous plants cause untold losses through death, physical malformations, abortions, and lowered gains of animals. Losses come not only through death and disability of livestock, but production costs are often higher where poisonous plants are a problem. This chapter discusses the use of common poisonous plants as forages. Plants containing toxins, yet commonly grazed in the Intermountain area, include gambel oak, mountain mahogany, greasewood, halogeton, tall larkspurs, lupine, and locoweeds. Chokecherry is common in valley bottoms, on north slopes of sagebrush benchlands, and on mountain ranges of the Intermountain area. True mountain mahogany has been incriminated in livestock losses because of its cyanogenetic potential. Several management strategies have been proposed which might utilize locoweeds as forage species and reduce the incidence of poisoning. Poisonous plants are common components of most rangeland vegetation. These plants have been and always will be present, and some are important in the climax communities.
