SECTION ONE: Orchis rotundifolia Site Report 



Methods 



Ocular reconnaissance was used to locate potentially rare 

 plant species within the ONAs. Based on information on the 

 geology of the area, several rare plants were thought to 

 potentially occur on the ONAs. These species were: 



- Astragalus molvbdenus (Leadville milkvetch) 



- Cypripedium passerinum (sparrow • s-egg lady ' s-sl ipper) 



- Eriqeron f laqellaris (trailing fleabane) 



- Eriqeron lackschewitzii (Lackschewitz ' s fleabane) 



- Orchis rotundifolia (round-leaved orchis) 



- Oxytropis laqopus var. coniuqens (***) 



- Oxytropis podocarpa (stalked-pod crazyweed) 



- Saussurea densa (dwarf saw-wort) 



Owing to the extent of the area to be covered, the time 

 constraints, the most likely habitats for these species were 

 searched in detail, while other areas were covered in general. 

 Maps in Appendix A (p. 12) show the approximate routes of 

 travel and the extent of the areas covered. Due to access 

 problems, the Chute Mountain ONA and the northern portion of 

 the Deep Creek/Battle Creek ONA were not covered extensively, 

 and further work might reveal rare plant populations in these 

 areas . 



Field collections were identified using the Flora of the 

 Pacific Northwest (Hitchcock and Cronquist, 1973), Vascular 

 Plants of Montana (Dorn, R.D., 1984), and Manual of the 

 Grasses of the United States (Hitchcock, A.S., 1971). Voucher 

 specimens of Orchis rotundifolia are deposited at the 

 University of Montana Herbarium (MONTU) . 



It must be emphasized that the search comprised only 12 

 consecutive days, and it is possible that some plant species 

 had flowered or had yet to bloom, and so were overlooked. 



A population of Orchis rotundifolia was found in the 

 northwest corner of the Ear Mountain ONA along an unnamed 

 creek. See Figure 1, p. 3 and Table 1, p. 4 for the mapped 

 location and Element Occurrence Record for this population. 

 The following is a status report on this species. 



I. SPECIES INFORMATION 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Orchis rotundifolia Banks ex 

 Pursh. 



