SPECIES INFORMATION 

 A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Arabis fecunda Rollins. 



2. COMMON NAME: Sapphire rockcress. 



3. FAMILY: Brassicaceae (=Crucif erae, mustard 

 family) . 



4. GENUS: According to Hitchcock et al. (1964), 

 there are over one hundred species of Arabis in 

 the Northern Hemisphere. In Montana, there are 12 

 known species (Dorn 1984, Rollins 1984). 



5. SPECIES: Arabis fecunda was first collected in 

 1975 by Jaculyn Cory along the lower western 

 flanks of the Sapphire Mountains. This specimen 

 was subsequently determined to represent a new 

 species (Rollins, 1984). Arabis fecunda is 

 endemic to Montana; all of the currently known 

 locations for this species occur on distinctive, 

 highly metamorphosed, calc-silicate soils. These 

 locations are within a 45-mile radius of one 

 another. 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. FEDERAL STATUS 



a. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: Arabis 

 fecunda is currently included in Category 2 

 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Notice 

 of Review (U.S. Department of Interior 1985), 

 under consideration for federal listing as a 

 threatened taxon. Category 2 taxa (= federal 

 candidate taxa) are those "...for which 

 information now in possession of the Service 

 indicates that proposing to list them as 

 endangered or threatened species is possibly 

 appropriate, but for which substantial data 

 on biological vulnerability and threat(s) are 

 not currently known or on file to support the 

 immediate preparation of rules." 



b. U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Arabis fecunda is 

 currently included on the Watch list in 

 Region 1 (Northern Region) of the U.S. Forest 

 Service. Watch plants include those species, 

 subspecies or varieties that are not 

 currently known to occur on National Forest 



