I 



b. Other current formal status reoocmcndaticns: The 

 species is currently listed as "endangered in hfontana" 

 (state rank = S2) by the MINHP (Shelly 1988) . 



c. Review of past status: Previously listed as 

 "recxmnended endangered" by the Montana Rare Plant 

 Project (Lesica et al. 1984). 



4. QrecfGn. 



a. Present designated or pr tyused legal pKotecticn or 



regulation: Howell ia aquatilis is a candidate for 

 potentiaQ state listing under the 1987 Oregon 

 Endangered Species Act (R. Meinke, Oregon D^>arbnent of 

 Agriculture, pers. oorm.). 



b. Other current fonnal status njuu ii m dations: Ihe 

 species is currently included on List 1 (taxa 

 endangered throughout range) , ani is considered 

 possibly extirpated frcrt the state (Oregon Natural 

 Heritage Data Base 1987) . 



c. Review of past status: Formerly listed in Group lib 

 (kncwn f nan only a few widely disjunct populations) , 

 and considered rare and endangered in Oregon (Siddall 

 £t al. 1979). 



5. Mashingtcn. 



a. Present designated or proposed legal protection or 

 regulaticn: None. 



b. Other current fonnal status i w.> i iii m dations: Ihe 

 species is currently included on the list of endangered 

 plant taxa (in danger of becordng extinct or extirpated 

 in the state within the near future if factors 

 contributing to its decline continue; Washington 

 Natural Heritage Program 1987) . 



c. Review of past status: None known. 

 3. Description. 



A. Gsieral nontechnical description: Howell ia aquatilis is a 

 strictly aquatic species, which grows as a mostly submerged 

 plant rooted in the bottom sediments of the ponds and sloughs to 

 vAiich it is adapted. Later in the season, it can sometimes be 

 found persisting in the miick on the edges of these eureas as they 

 dry out. It is an annual, ccnpleting its entire life cycle in 

 one growing season, and becoming incon^icuous upon desiccation 

 of its habitat at the end of the sunmer. The stems are branched 

 several inches from the base, and each branch then extends to the 

 surface of the water. Ihe numerous leaves are an inch or two 

 long and very narrcM. 



