Region 1 of the U.S. Forest Service. It has no 

 status under the Endangered Species Act. 



2. STATE: Botrychium minganense has most recently 

 been ranked by the Montana Natural Heritage 

 Program (Achuff 1991) as an SI species 

 ("critically imperiled in Montana because of 

 rarity (5 or fewer occurrences)") and is 

 considered "sensitive" within the state (Lesica 

 and Shelly 1991) . It is also ranked SI in Idaho 

 where it is currently known from five locations in 

 northern Idaho (Lorain 1990, Moseley and Groves 

 1990) . 



C. DESCRIPTION 



1. GENERAL NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Botrvchium 

 minganense is a small, herbaceous, somewhat fleshy 

 perennial fern usually 2.5-7 inches tall although 

 occasionally up to 12 inches tall (Fig. 1) . The 

 plants consist a single stem, 1.5-4 inches tall, 

 that bears two "leaves," one sterile and one 

 fertile. The sterile portion is attached to the 

 main stem by a short (up to 0.2 inch) stalk and is 

 divided into numerous, wedge-shaped segments 

 (pinnae) that do not overlap or touch. The pinnae 

 are 0.2-0.3 inches wide, commonly cupped or spoon- 

 shaped rather than flat and frequently have 

 shallowly incised edges. The fertile portion is 

 0.5-6 inches long, paniculate, and bears rounded 

 sporangia along the margins. 



2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Stems from a short erect 

 rhizome, producing one frond per season; fronds 

 mostly 6-18 (30) cm long ;' sterile and fertile 

 portions erect and equal in the hairless bud ; 

 fertile portion 1.5-10 cm long, paniculate; 

 sterile portion 1.5-10 cm long on a short, <5 mm 

 long stalk, oblong, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, truncate at 

 the base and rounded at the apex, with (2) 3-6 (7) 

 pairs of pinnae; pinnae 4-7 mm wide, 



subf labellate, cupped or spatulate rather than 

 flat, the margins entire but frequently shallowly 

 incised, not overlapping or touching (adapted from 

 Cody and Britton 1989, Kuijt 1982, Lellinger 1985, 

 Taylor 1973, Wagner and Lord 1956). 



3. LOCAL FIELD CHARACTERS: Botrychium minqanense can 

 be confused with the more common B. lunaria . But 

 in Botrychium minqanense the pinnae are 4-7 mm 



k wide, broadly cuneate and not overlapping or 



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