11 



Lesquerella sp. novum I 

 Undescribed Bladderpod #1 



A. Description 



I 



1. General description: This undescribed Lesquerella is a 

 small, low growing perennial in the mustard family 

 (Brassicaceae) . The leaves are mostly in a basal rosette 

 and are shaped like spoons, with a broadened blade and a 

 narrowed petiole. The stem leaves are smaller and sessile. 

 The foliage is covered with short, many rayed hairs which 

 give the leaves a grayish cast. The flowers are borne on 

 stems which hug the ground, several on each stem. The 

 flowers are typical of the family, with 4 green sepals, 4 

 bright yellow petals, 6 stamens, and a single pistil. The 

 mature fruit is a silique (a fruit with two chambers 

 separated by a membranous partition) which is not much 

 longer than wide and is flattened at right angles to the 

 plane of the partition. A black and white photocopy of a 

 specimen of the plant is included in Appendix E. 



2. Technical description: not yet available 



3. Diagnostic characters: This taxon resembles Lesquerella 

 carinata to which it keys out in Dorn (1984). The two taxa 

 have technical differences in their fruits (Heidel 1993). 

 The two species are allopatric and Lesquerella carinata is 

 known in Montana only from a small area in the vicinity of 

 Bearmouth in the Garnet Range in Granite County (Vanderhorst 

 1995b). Lesquerella alpina is the only species of the genus 

 which is known to be sympatric with this undescribed taxon; 

 the former is distinguished by its erect flowering stems, 

 narrow leaves without petioles, and fruits which are not 

 flattened (Heidel 1993, Dorn 1984). 



B. Current legal or other formal status 



1. State: The Montana Natural Heritage Program ranks 

 Lesquerella sp. novum I as G2 and S2 (Heidel 1994), 

 signifying that the taxon is imperilled because of rarity. 

 The global and state ranks are the same because the taxon is 

 found only in Montana. 



2 . Federal 



a. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none 



b. Bureau of Land Management: proposed watch status (USDI 



Bureau of Land Management 1993) 



c. U. S. Forest Service: sensitive in Region 1 (USDA Forest 



Service 1994a). 



