FOOTHILL VEGETATION Occurs typically between 5,000 feet and 6,500 feet elevation. The following plants are commonly encountered: box elder--maple family, plentiful along streams, winged fruit; cottonwoods; hackberry--saw-toothed leaves and dry dark-red berries; hawthorn--leaves toward top coarse-toothed, thorns, dark-red berries; buffalo berry--tall shrub with silvery, alternate, oval leaves, edible red berries; sumac--drought resistant, medium-size shrub, leaves turn rose and scarlet in fall, fruit covered with reddish hairs, favorite of birds and deer; poison ivy--erect shrub, shiny leaves composed of three leaflets, each ovate in outline that become red in the fall, poisonous to touch; rose--leaf, flower, and fruit similar to those of cultivated rose; common juniper--evergreen ground cover, berries light blue, sharp needles in whorls of three; cliffrose--similar to bitterbrush, many-branched shrub, yellow five-petaled flower, feather-tailed fruits, deeply lobed leaves; serviceberry--roundish leaves, white flowers with five oblong petals, edible blue berries; sagebrush--most common shrub found in foothills, indicates fertile soil, leaves have sage odor if crushed; mistletoe--yellow-brown parasite on evergreens, often looks like a bird's nest; storksbill--very early spring plant, pink flowers, seed pod resembles stork's head, young plants can be eaten as raw greens or cooked; Rocky Mountain bee plant--bushy, three-fingered leaves and reddish-lavender flower clusters with long protruding stamen; wild mints--all have square stems, leaves release mint odor when crushed; phlox--symmetrical blossoms with long tubes and five spreading petals, flowers white, pink, or bright blue; astragalus--pea family, narrow leaflets, flowers white, purple, or pink; evening primrose--large, white, four-petal flowers that turn pink with age, or yellow primrose whose yellow blossoms fade when sun strikes them; mullein--tall, weedy spike with many yellow flowers, few bloom at the same time, large woolly leaves; pinyon pine--two species, recognized by having either one or two needles per fascicle, hybrids may have both one and two needle fascicles, cones commonly form edible nuts; juniper--commonly called "cedar"; ephedra (Mormon tea)--shrubs with joined grooved green stems, leaves scale-like, opposite or whorled, staminate cones; sego lily--state flower of Utah, white tulip-like flowers with triangular cup-shaped appearance, base of petals being yellow and marked with a crescent-shaped purple band or spot, few grass-like leaves, bulbous root which was eaten by Indians and early settlers.