Chapter 25. Shrub and forb seed production

Abstract

The success or failure of range restoration and revegetation programs depends on procurement of an adequate supply of quality grass, forb, and shrub seed. Rangeland species seed is either grown commercially or collected from wildland stands. Commercially produced seed of numerous grass species is available (Asay and Knowles 1985b; Horton and others 1990; Sours 1983). A few site-specific grass species of limited commercial demand are collected from native stands, but in general the seed of most grasses are grown under cultivation. The latter is not true for many forbs, or most shrubs. Seed of several native and introduced forbs seeded on rangelands are now commercially available. They include cultivars of alfalfa, cicer milkvetch, crownvetch, various clovers, arrowleaf balsamroot (fig. 1), flax, sainfoin, globemallow, small burnet (fig. 2), western yarrow, Utah sweetvetch (fig. 3), and several penstemon species (Rumbaugh and Townsend 1985; Stevens and others 1985c; Van Epps 1966). Seed of numerous forbs must still be collected from wildland stands. This is especially true for some sitespecific forbs. Also, seeds from nearly all shrub species are collected from wildland populations.

Parent Publication

• Restoring Western Ranges and Wildlands, vol. 3

Citation

Van Epps, Gordon A.; Stevens, Richard. 2004. Chapter 25. Shrub and forb seed production. In: Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard; Shaw, Nancy L., comps. Restoring western ranges and wildlands, vol. 3. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-136-vol-3. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 717-722