• IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE
• PALATABILITY
• NUTRITIONAL VALUE
• COVER VALUE
• VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES
• OTHER USES AND VALUES
• MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:

Sites abundant in shrubby cinquefoil in New Mexico generally have a low potential for grazing [32]. Shrubby cinquefoil is grazed in some areas by domestic goats, sheep, and cattle [92,125,148,190,194].

Though it is not preferred forage for deer in Utah [5], shrubby cinquefoil is lightly browsed by mule deer, elk, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep throughout its range [55,101,125,148,161,190]. Winter use of shrubby cinquefoil by deer and elk is also typically light [13,65]. It is a low preference shrub for bighorn sheep, though it receives moderate to heavy use when new growth begins [172]. Shrubby cinquefoil stems are important elk winter browse in Colorado [75].

Small birds and mammals consume shrubby cinquefoil seeds [189].

PALATABILITY:

The palatability of shrubby cinquefoil has been rated as follows [40]:

NUTRITIONAL VALUE:

Shrubby cinquefoil provides a fair amount of usable energy and a poor amount of digestible protein [13]. Digestible protein increases with seasonal development, from 0.1% at leaf stage to 0.8% at heading and 0.9% at seed ripening [11]. Specific nutritional information is as follows [85]:

COVER VALUE:

Cover value of shrubby cinquefoil has been rated as follows [40]:

VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:

Shrubby cinquefoil sometimes occurs as a dominant plant species on dry, unstable cut slopes and is recommended for revegetating dry, disturbed sites [37,53] and roadsides [182,190]. It colonizes oil spills [95], seismic lines [94], and abandoned coal mining sites [158] in Canada. Shrubby cinquefoil is successful in revegetating mining-disturbed lands [17,190], and has shown good potential for growth and survival on amended mine tailings [189], achieving a 67-100% survival rate [51,52]. Because shrubby cinquefoil readily establishes from nursery grown stock, grows quickly, and provides excellent soil stability, it is well adapted for revegetating disturbed streambank and moist meadow sites [13,61,64,65,66].

OTHER USES AND VALUES:

Shrubby cinquefoil is useful for erosion control and soil stabilization [46,189,190], and may be useful in wildlife habitat mitigation [59].

Due to its virtually continuous summer blooming, shrubby cinquefoil is a valuable landscape ornamental [33,37,46,182,189,190], and is recommended for landscaping in deer winter range areas because it is seldom browsed [5].

The dried leaves of shrubby cinquefoil were commonly used by Native Americans to make tea. Dried leaves were also made into a mixture considered an arrow poison that was thought to go directly to the heart. Dried, finely powdered leaves were believed to protect the body from severe, temporary heat [69].

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

The spread of continuous stands of shrubby cinquefoil in western grasslands may be associated with excessive grazing [126,148,164,181]. On bighorn sheep range in western Canada, shrubby cinquefoil was positively correlated with total forage utilization and stocking rates but negatively correlated with forage production. The proportion of shrubby cinquefoil in the vegetation increased as forage utilization increased and the stocking rate increased, but the proportion decreased as forage production/ha increased. Study results indicated that in using shrubby cinquefoil as an index to range condition, grasslands containing more than 5% shrubby cinquefoil, and especially those containing more than 10%, were overgrazed [172]. However, another study in fescue grassland of western Canada found no significant difference in shrubby cinquefoil percent cover at different stocking rates, which ranged from low to very high [195], and other authors report that extensive grazing may substantially decrease the density of shrubby cinquefoil [163,194].

Shrubby cinquefoil may limit forage production on some high elevation grasslands. The density of shrubby cinquefoil has been negatively correlated with forage production [125], and continuous stands of shrubby cinquefoil in particular may limit production and availability of herbaceous forage [148]. 

Effective control of shrubby cinquefoil has been achieved with herbicide treatments of 2,4-D, 2,4-DE/dichlorprop E, and hexazinone. Little regrowth occurred after treatment, and shrubby cinquefoil control resulted in increased forage production and utilization [125]. Picloram is also effective in controlling shrubby cinquefoil, with higher concentrations causing greater mortality [164]. 

Related categories for SPECIES: Dasiphora floribunda | Shrubby Cinquefoil