with concave sides, sessile, granular, abruptly 

 apiculate (Hermann 1970) . 



Always dioecious; culms 1.5-4.0 dm high, stiff, 

 erect, longer than the leaves; spikes 1-4, 

 terminal spike much larger than cylindric lateral 

 spikes; pistillate scales much longer than the 

 perigynia (Murray 1969) . Photographs of C. 

 parryana ssp. parryana and ssp. idahoa are 

 provided in Appendix A. 



3. SIMILAR SPECIES AND FIELD CHARACTERS: The large, 

 oblong terminal spike and the long, female scales 

 that are at least twice as long as the perigynia, 

 giving the spikes a ragged appearance, are 

 distinctive and separate this plant from the other 

 varieties of C. parryana. Subspecies parryana has 

 a cylindrical terminal spike, lateral spikes 

 nearly as long as the terminal, and pistillate 

 scales ca. as long as the perigynia. Subspecies 

 hallii has pistillate scales as long or only 

 slightly longer than the perigynia. 



Carex norvegica (sensu lato) has smaller (6-14 mm 



long) terminal spikes. Carex buxbaumii has 



broader lateral spikes (6-10 mm wide) and occurs 

 in organic soils. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 



1. RANGE: Carex parryana ssp. idahoa occurs in the 

 high valleys of southwest Montana and adjacent 

 southeast Idaho. It has been collected in 

 Beaverhead, Gallatin, Madison, Powell and Silver 

 Bow counties, Montana and Bannock, Clark and Lemhi 

 counties, Idaho (Lesica and Shelly 1991, Murray 

 1969) . The locations of known Montana populations 

 are shown on the map in Appendix C. 



Carex parryana as a whole occurs from British 

 Columbia east to Manitoba, south to Utah, Colorado 

 and Nebraska. Subspecies hallii occurs from 

 Manitoba south to Colorado and Nebraska. 

 Subspecies parryana occurs from British Columbia 

 to Manitoba south to Utah and Colorado (Murray 

 1969) . 



2. RECENTLY VERIFIED SITES 



a. Idaho: There are four recently verified 



locations for Carex parryana ssp. idahoa in 

 Idaho: two in Clark County near the type 



