Carter County distribution: Lead plant was collected in 1948 by W. E. Booth from the 

 vicinity of Albion. Searches by Peter Lesica in 1986 failed to relocate this occurrence. Recent 

 surveys of Carter County Custer National Forest lands (Heidel and Dueholm 1995) and BLM 

 lands did not locate the species in the county. Much of the Albion area is in private 

 ownership and has intact rangeland, but we have inadequate information to comment on the 

 likelihood of it persisting in the county. 



HABITAT: Lead plant occupies dry, well-drained prairies. In the central Great Plains, it is 

 characterized as one of the most conspicuous and common shrubs of uplands (Weaver 1954). In 

 Montana, Booth and Wright (1966) list the habitat as "dry, sandy prairies." The approximate range in 

 elevation from known collection areas in Montana is 3000-3400 ft. It is noted that the primary areas 

 of well-drained prairie in the Albion area are on the alluvial deposits and valley margins along the 

 Little Missouri valley. 



Farther east in the Great Plains, lead plant is often the only woody plant or among the few woody 

 plants where it grows, and does not compete with grasses because of its deep root system. It grows 

 downstream along the Little Missouri River of North Dakota on valley benches and terraces (Heidel 

 personal observation). In South Dakota, it is characteristically associated with the bluestem grasses, 

 little bluestem and big bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium and Andropogon gerardii, respectively; 

 Johnson and Nichols 1 982). These are warm-season grasses that characteristically require higher 

 annual precipitation levels than are found in Montana, but which are widely scattered in eastern 

 Montana, often in subirrigated conditions. 



SPECIES BIOLOGY: Lead plant is a long-lived perennial. Like most of the members of the bean 

 family, it fixes nitrogen; enhancing soil fertility. It produces prolific flowers and is insect-pollinated. 



Farther east on the Missouri River, it is very common on good-condition range sites in a segment of 

 the landscape (Heidel personal observation). But at the margins of its distribution, it is more likely to 

 be present in low densities and population numbers. 



OTHER COMMENTS: The 1922 collection label from Rosebud County noted that the species was 

 heavily browsed by cattle and horses. It decreases under intense grazing (Great Plains Flora 

 Association 1986, Smith 1976), while it is considered resilient to mowing and grazing under some 

 levels or frequencies. It is considered "an excellent forage of high nutritive quality and palatability" 

 (Johnson and Nichols 1 982), and may be a species to feature in local and regional range plant 

 identification events. 



It is reported cultivated as an ornamental (Johnson and Nichols 1982, Barr 1983) but there is no 

 evidence to suggest that this would explain its occurrences in Montana. 



We are reasonably sure that it does not occur on BLM-administered lands in Carter County, but it 

 may be appropriate to retain as watch because it has not been systematically surveyed in other 

 counties where it has been collected or reported. 



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