2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: See Shelly (1989a). Verification of all 

 Sweetgrass Hills material was provided by J. Stephen Shelly. 



3. LCXIAL FIELD CHARACTERS: Claytonia lanceolata var. f lava is the 

 only member of the Purslane Family found in the Sweetgrass Hills. 

 There are no other perfect white flowers having only two sepals; 

 the leaf and corm features in combination are also diagnostic. 



D. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



1. RANGE: Its described range will be expanded with monographic 

 revision that is expected to merge it with a more widespread 

 taxon. 



2. CURRENT SITES: Claytonia lanceolata var. f lava is known from 37 

 sites in Montana spanning 15 counties, including extensive 

 populations among these sites. The highest concentration of 

 known sites is in southwestern Montana. Its northernmost 

 documented Montana sites, apart from the Sweetgrass Hills, are in 

 the Little Belt Mountains over 160 km (100 miles) to the south. 

 Its distribution and other Sweetgrass Hills field data was 

 transcribed and mapped, but not retained in the database. 



3. HISTORICAL SITES: The first collection of Claytonia lanceolata 

 var. f lava was made by Lewis and Clark (Phillips pers. commun.), 

 and cannot be relocated with precision. 



4. UNVERIFIED/ UNDOCUMENTED REPORTS: It has been reported that this 

 taxon was seen near the Little Rocky Mountains (Roe pers. 

 commun.) but a voucher specimen was not collected. If verified, 

 this would represent an occurrence as much or more disjunct than 

 that in the Sweetgrass Hills. 



5. AREAS SURVEYED BUT SPECIES NOT LOCATED: The taxon's potential 

 habitat was most extensively surveyed in early July after 



- verification had been made of material collected in May and June. 

 While it was located on a couple occasions in fruit in July, it 

 could not be reliably located without flowers this late in the 

 season, and it was impossible to estimate numbers or extent. 

 \ From limited May and June survey work in rough fescue habitat, in 

 which this species was found repeatedly, it is suggested that the 

 taxon may be widespread in the mesic grasslands which prevail at 

 upper elevations and north-facing slopes. 



E. HABITAT 



1. ASSOCIATED VEGETATION: This early-blooming taxon was found in a 

 variety of open and semi-open mesic habitats, including major and 

 minor plant associations and ecotones. It was found in many 

 areas of Festuca scabrella grassland, which prevails across 

 north-facing slopes and upper elevations. It also flourishes in 

 the small patches of deciduous tree and shrub cover, particularly 



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