2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The subspecies has sepals dark bright 

 blue, 12-21 X 9-12 mm, spurs 15-23 mm; lower petal blades cleft 2 



mm or more, hairs usually yellow (Warnock in prep.)* The 

 species in general is an herbaceous perennial 1-4(7) dm, 

 base often anthocyanous, glabrous to puberulent, roots non- 

 fistulose. Leaves mostly in lower 1/3 of stem, 1-4 x 1.5-7 

 cm, round, glabrous to puberulent, 3-19 lobes, lobes 1-8 mm 

 wide; petioles 0.3-8 cm; basal (1)2-7 at anthesis, lobes 1-8 

 mm wide, petioles glabrous to puberulent; cauline 3-6 at 

 anthesis, lobes 1-8 mm wide. Inf loresences 3-12(22) 

 flowers; pedicels 1-4(8) cm, more of less puberulent. 

 Bracteoles 2-7 (17) mm from flowers, 4-6(8)mm, green, 

 sometimes white margined, lanceolate, puberulent. Sepals 

 dark blue, puberulent, laterals usually spreading, 16-21 x 

 6-11 mm, spurs straight to gently decurved, elevated 0-40 

 degrees above horizontal, 13-18 mm. Lower petal blades 

 covering stamens, 7-12 mm (Warnock in prep.). 



3. LOCAL FIELD CHARACTERS: Limestone larkspur is distinguished from 

 the type subspecies in that its sepals are dark bright blue as 

 opposed to dark blue to purple, the flowers are overall slightly 

 larger, and the cleft in the lower petals is at least 2 mm as 

 opposed to 2 mm or less. It is also consistently found on 

 limestone, which is not the case with the type subspecies 

 (Warnock in prep.). The character that is easiest to use in the 

 field is the solid color of the upper petals - without 

 prominently pigmented veins; this is difficult to discern on 

 herbarium specimens. 



D. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



1. RANGE: The range of this taxon corresponds with Madison Group 

 outcrops in the state, as found around the Elkhorn Mountains, in 

 the Big Belt Mountains, Pryor Mountains, Tendoy Mountains, 

 Tobacco Mountains, Pioneer Mountains and other scattered locales 

 (Figure 2) . It has been documented at least 21 times in sites 

 that include Beaverhead, Broadwater, Carbon, Gallatin, Jefferson, 

 Lewis and Clark, and Madison counties. 



2. CURRENT SITES: All of the above-mentioned sites for this taxon 

 are current. The five sites in the study area include: 



1. Jefferson Co. Southwestern end of the limestone foothills 

 ridges by Dry Creek in T.5N R.3W Sec. 14 SE 1/4 



2. Jefferson Co. A scattered tract in the Boulder River valley; 

 T,4N R.2W Sec, 6 SW 1/4 



3. Broadwater Co, North of Johnny Gulch Road in T.5N R.IW Sec. 

 23. 



