one of which was relocated in 1995 (Lesica and Vanderhorst 1995). With the 1996 discovery of 

 the species in the Ruby Range there are now just tliree known occurrences in Montana (see state 

 distribution map). 



Local distribution: One population was discovered near Mud Spring on private land at the lower 

 end of the Garden Creek allotment at the southeast edge of the Ruby Range study area. This is the 

 first documented occuiTcnce in Madison County. The low elevation potential habitat is limited to 

 the immediate vicinity, and potential habitat elsewhere in the Ruby Valley outside of the study 

 area was not searched. 



HABITAT: Hitchcock (1955) describes the habitat tliroughout its range as "dry, open places in 

 the plains and foothills, often among sagebrush." In southwestern Montana, Towns endia flor if er 

 grows in dry, bare soils of open habitats in foothills with elevations ranging from 5,800 to 6,500 

 feet. In the Sage Creek area it is found on eroding south-facing slopes and in sagebrush 

 grasslands with sparse vegetation. 



In the Ruby Range study area it grows in a foothills setting at gentle midslope positions in open 

 plains above greasewood {Sarcobatus vermiculatus) flats and below the mountain slopes. The 

 soil is powdery silt, mapped in the Trudau loam 2-8% series. The soil parent material is 

 colluvium and the soils form on fans, footslopes, and terraces of sedimentary uplands (USDA 

 Soil Conservation Service 1989). Most soils in this series are moderately to strongly alkaline, and 

 the species associated with Townsendia Jlorifer indicate that local soil conditions are calcareous. 

 It has a low water holding capacity and there is much bare ground. The habitat type is in the Stipa 

 comata series, and woody sages are absent. Associated plant species include Koeleria macrantha 

 (syn. K. cristata),Oryzopsis contracta, Poa secunda, Stipa viridida, Musineon divaricatum, 

 Allium textije, and Artemisia frigida. A photo of the habitat is shown in Appendix E. This 

 foothills grassland habitat is limited to the lower Cottonwood Creek valley in the far southeastern 

 comer of the study area. 



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