• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Spiny hopsage grows east of the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada from central Washington to southern California, eastward to southwestern Montana and western Colorado [6,23,54]. It is scattered throughout the Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert [8].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES21  Ponderosa pine
FRES29  Sagebrush
FRES30  Desert shrub
FRES35  Pinyon-juniper
FRES40  Desert grasslands

STATES:

AZ   CA   CO   ID   MT   NM   NV   OR   UT   WA   WY

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

 5 Columbia Plateau
 6 Upper Basin and Range
 7 Lower Basin and Range
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K017 Black Hills pine forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K037 Mountain mahogany-oak shrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K039 Blackbrush
K040 Saltbush-greasewood
K041 Creosote bush
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K057 Galleta-threeawn shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie

SAF COVER TYPES:

237 Interior ponderosa pine
239 Pinyon-juniper

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
210 Bitterbrush
211 Creosotebush scrub
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
315 Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
316 Big sagebrush-rough fescue
320 Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
321 Black sagebrush-Idaho fescue
408 Other sagebrush types
414 Salt desert shrub
501 Saltbush-greasewood
506 Creosotebush-bursage
508 Creosotebush-tarbush

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Spiny hopsage is well adapted to sagebrush deserts, juniper-pinyon (Pinus-Juniperus spp.) woodlands, and salt desert shrublands [6,8]. It grows in association with such species as ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa), Utah juniper (J. osteosperma), and singleleaf pinyon (P. monophylla) [37]. Spiny hopsage commonly occurs in fairly pure stands [6] or in large extensive tracts with big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) [7]. Spiny hopsage often grows in association with budsage (A. spinescens), black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), Gardner's saltbush (A. gardneri), winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), horsebrush (Tetradymia spp.), green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamus viscidiflorus), galleta (Hilaria jamesii), needle-and-thread grass (Hesperostipa comata), and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) [6,15,80].

Spiny hopsage is dominant in a number of desert shrub communities. It is often codominant with big sagebrush, black sagebrush (Artemisia nova), green rabbitbrush, shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia), and Sandberg bluegrass [2,5,9]. Publications describing spiny hopsage as a dominant or indicator species include:

Presettlement vegetation of part of northwestern Moffat County, Colorado, described from remnants [2]
Vegetation and soils of the Cow Creek Watershed [4]
Vegetation and soils of the Churchill Canyon Watershed [5]
Steppe vegetation of Washington [9]
Vegetation and plant communities of southern California deserts--a functional view [28]
Sagebrush steppe [82]

Related categories for SPECIES: Grayia spinosa | Spiny Hopsage