Abstract | Previous to 1926, the cooperating stockmen attributed a large number of livestock deaths each year on the Jornada Experimental Range to lightning. This was thought to be the cause of death in as much as the deaths all occurred during therainy period and the position of the carcasses was such as to lead to the belief that the animals had been killed instantly. Investigation, however, disclosed the fact that practically all these losses, thought to be caused by lightning had been caused by the poisonous weed drymaria, commonly called inkweed because of the purple stain contained in the seed. Drymaria is a small summer annual growing 1 to 3 inches high in round clumps 3 to 6 inches in diameter. It is found mostly in heavy clay soils in adobe flats and along shallow washes or gullies in southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona. The solitary growth habit of theseplants within areas supporting few, if any other, plants possibly causes them to be grazed to a greater extent than they would if growing with other plants. |