17 



5. AREAS SURVEYED BUT SPECIES NOT LOCATED: It appears that 



this species is restricted to sandstone outcrops of the Fox 

 Hill sandstones, which are restricted to borders of Fort 

 Peck Reservior in CM. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. 

 Sandstone outcrops are also widespread in the Fort Union 

 Formation along the Mussellshell valley and above the Fox 

 Hill sandstone. They are not as easily eroded as Fox Hill 

 sandstone, and numerous searches on Fort Union sandstone 

 produced no new populations. 



E. HABITAT 



1. ASSOCIATED VEGETATION: In the Pryor Mountains, A. qeyeri is 

 associated with Artemisia tridentata , Stipa comata and 

 Bouteloua gracilis . The only other record in Montana that 

 has associated species information is the Garfield County 

 record, revisited in the course of this study. It is in the 

 earliest and most unstable of early successional habitat 

 dominated by Calamovilfa longifolia amd Oryzopsis 

 hymenoides ; near but separate from Psoralea lanceolata , 

 Astragalus kentropyhta and Lupinus pusillus . 



2. TOPOGRAPHY: In the Pryor Mountains, A. qeyeri is restricted 

 to sandy alluvial plains and terraces. In Garfield County, 

 by contrast, the only known population is on a steep 

 midslope eroding out of sandstone bedrock along an exposed 

 ridge. 



3. SOIL RELATIONSHIPS: This species occupies loose, sandy 

 soils with little or no organic matter and soil development. 



4= CLIMATE FACTORS: The droughty nature of the soils is 



exacerbated by the hot and dry microclimate occupied by this 

 species. It is an annual adapted to Great Basin desert 

 conditions with rainfall early in the grov/ing season, 

 followed by stress. 



F. POPULATION DEMOGRAPHY AND BIOLOGY 



1. PHENOLOGY: Collection dates for this species range from 

 late May through late June. It is likely that this species 

 begins flowering by mid May, and that late June collections 

 represent plants in fruit. It dessicates and many plants 

 break off by the middle of the growing season. 



2. POPULATION SIZE AND CONDITION: All populations in which 

 size was noted were described as small. Its population 

 numbers might be expected to oscillate from year-to-year 

 because it is an annual species. 



