association immediately upon germination (Lichthardt and Mancuso 

 1991) . 



Although grazing does not present a serious threat, a few stems 

 in most large populations are eaten. Moose were observed close 

 to a plant which had four live stems grazed. Carver (1991) 

 reported that elk and deer tracks were seen in stem groups which 

 were heavily grazed. 



Population size in Allotropa virgata is quite variable. Of the 

 31 known sites in Montana, 29 have some population data. If an 

 arbitrary population size category (small = <25 plants and/or 50 

 stems; medium - <100 plants and/or 300 stems; large = >100 plants 

 and 300 stems) is used with some flexibility, about one-half (14) 

 of the populations are small, one-third (10) are of medium size, 

 and one-fifth (5) are large. 



A major problem in estimating populations of A. virgata is what 

 to count: plants or stems. Much of A. virgata ' s growth goes on 

 beneath the ground. The species is clonal, and spreads by 

 rhizomes, bearing adventitious buds on its far-reaching root 

 system (Lichthardt and Mancuso 1991) . When a bud develops into a 

 new root crown, the connection with the old root crown is severed 

 and a new "plant" although genetically identical to the "old" 

 plant is formed (Lichthardt and Mancuso 1991) . Such ramets 

 (independent individuals formed vegetatively from the same 

 genetic individual) may be up to one meter apart (Lichthardt and 

 Mancuso 1991) . Thus the problem of counting unique genetic 

 individuals becomes realistically impractical. Usually stems or 

 groups of stems are more or less separated in space, and can be 

 considered "plants" for the purpose of tallying individuals. 

 Probably for demographic studies, live stem counts are the most 

 reliable with number of plants estimated as additional 

 information, thus lessening investigator bias concerning the 

 concept of what constitutes a "plant". 



METHODS 



The purpose of this study was to conduct field searches for 

 additional populations of Allotropa virgata on the Beaverhead and 

 Deerlodge National Forests. Areas of potential habitat were 

 selected either by knowledgeable individuals (John Joy on the 

 Deerlodge NF) or using a combination of aerial photographs, 7.5' 

 uses topographic maps, and staff expertise (Quinn Carver and Jeff 

 Jones on the Beaverhead NF) . Lodgepole pine-grouse whortleberry 

 plant associations appear light and coarse-grained in aerial 

 photographs, and are easy to discern from the other forest 

 habitats (Carver 1991) . Also A. virgata occurs on more gently 

 sloping, rounded topographic features rather than on features 

 with steep and sharp edges, at least in the Bitterroot Mountains 

 of the Beaverhead National Forest. 



