Claytonia lanceolata var. f lava 

 Yellow spring beauty 



Note: The following represents an update to the status information on 

 Clavtonia lanceolata var. flava as presented in Shelly (1989a, 1989b), 

 and focuses on Sweetgrass Hills conditions. 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Claytonia lanceolata var. flava (A. Nels.) C. 

 L. Hitchc. ; see species taxonomy discussion below. 



2. COMMON NAME: Yellow springbeauty 



3. FAMILY: Portulucaceae (Purslane Family) 



4. GENUS: Clavtonia (Spring beauty, claytonia) 



5. SPECIES AND VARIETY: lanceolata var. flava is the treatment given 

 Montana material in all existing floras. Two questions 

 pertaining to this taxon are in the process of being resolved, 

 and both have bearing on its status. 



In Montana are pure and mixed populations that have all the 

 characteristics of C. 1. var. flava except for having white 

 flowers instead of yellow flowers, as the common name infers. 

 All Sweetgrass Hills plants are white-flowered. Electrophoretic 

 and morphological studies have revealed that the color forms are 

 genetically identical (Shelly et al. in progress) . This lends 

 support to considering the taxon more common than previously 

 known in Montana. 



Furthermore, in comparing these Claytonia lanceolata var. flava 

 specimens with material in the C. lanceolata complex, it was 

 determined that this taxon does not belong in the complex (Shelly 

 . et al. in progress). Separate concurrent monographic revisions 

 are in progress which subsume C. lanceolata var. flava in a more 

 common species of Claytonia (Shelly pers. commun.) of arctic 

 origin that is not otherwise considered to be in Montana. It 

 will be referred to in this report and communications as C. 

 lanceolata var. flava until such time as the revisionary 

 taxonomic work is published. 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. FEDERAL STATUS 



a. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: The putative Clavtonia 



lanceolata var. flava was treated as an additional species target 

 only because the taxa had been and remains on the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service Notice of Review list in Category 2 as a 



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