SPECIES INFORMATION 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Arabis fecunda Rollins (Rollins 

 1984) 



2. SYNONYMS: None 



3. COMMON NAME: Sapphire rockcress 



4. FAMILY: Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) 



5. GENUS: Arabis contains more than 100 species of 

 the Northern Hemisphere from desert to alpine 

 habitats (Hitchcock et al, 1964). 



6. SPECIES: Arabis fecunda was first collected by 

 Jaculyn Cory at the type locality south of 

 Charleys Gulch in mid-May, 1975 ( Cory 1416 MONTU) . 

 These specimens were in flower, and she returned 

 on 13 June 1976 to collect the type specimen ( Cory 

 1611 MONTU) in fruit. The identification of these 

 specimens remained undetermined until 1983 when 

 they were sent to Reed C. Rollins at the Gray 

 Herbarium of Harvard University who described the 

 plant as a new species (Rollins 1984) . 



Type Specimen — Ravalli County, Montana, on rocky 

 terrain near sagebrush, big game range east of 

 Corvallis, 13 June 1976, Jaculyn Cory 1611 , MONTU. 

 The type locality is one of the Charleys Gulch 

 subpopulations, EO #001. 



Cory's collections were large bolting specimens 

 even though axillary flowering plants are much 

 more common at the site (Walsh 1992, Lesica and 

 Shelly 1994) . Thus, Rollins' description of a 

 "congested" inflorescence does not apply to 

 axillary flowering plants. Furthermore, the 

 petals fade to a purplish color described by 

 Rollins, but are actually white in the field. 



Rollins described A^ fecunda as being closely 

 related to A^ fernaldiana (Rollins 1984) . 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR FORMAL STATUS 



1. FEDERAL STATUS 



a. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: C2 ; Arabis 

 fecunda is a candidate for listing as a 



