22 



3. Diagnostic characters: Penstemon lemhiensis can be 



distinguished from other members of the genus with which it 

 is sympatric, by its large stature, sharp elongated tips of 

 the calyx lobes, and glabrous staminode (Shelly 1990). 



B. Current legal or other formal status 



1. Federal 



a. Bureau of Land Management: proposed Sensitive (USDI 



Bureau of Land Management 1993). 



b. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: C2 , which means that 



"information now in the possession of the Service 

 indicates that proposing to list as endangered or 

 threatened is possibly appropriate, but for which 

 sufficient data on biological vulnerability and threat 

 are not currently available to support proposed rules" 

 (U. S. D. I. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993). 



c. U. S. Forest Service: Sensitive (USDA Forest Service 



1994a) . 



2. State: The Montana Natural Heritage Program ranks Penstemon 

 lemhiensis G3 and S2 (Heidel 1994), signifying that it is 

 vulnerable to extinction throughout its range and very 

 vulnerable in Montana. 



C. Geographic distribution 



1. Species range: northern Lemhi County, Idaho and adjacent 

 Montana (Hitchcock and Cronquist 1973) 



2. Montana distribution: As of 1990, Penstemon lemhiensis was 

 known from 35 occurrences in the state, 30 in Beaverhead 

 County and five in Ravalli County (Shelly 1990). 



3. Occurrences in the study area: Prior to this project, Lemhi 

 beardtongue was known from 6 occurrences on BLM land in the 

 study area, and an additional 3 occurrences on private land 

 in the Horse Prairie Creek drainage. All of these are in 

 the western part of the study area. The BLM sites are at 

 Roberts Gulch (015), Frog Creek (024), Horse Prairie Guard 

 Station (027), Bloody Dick Creek (028 and 029), and Dutch 

 Creek (035). Three of the BLM occurrences were relocated by 

 this project or by a survey of the Lemhi Pass area in 1993 

 (Vanderhorst 1994b), but two populations could not be 

 relocated although they were searched for. No new 

 populations were located by this project. Element 

 Occurrence Records (EORs) and maps showing the precise 

 locations of the BLM populations are given in Appendix C. 



