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Montana Field Guides

Alpine Smelowskia - Smelowskia calycina
Other Names:  Smelowskia americana

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S4
C-value:


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

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General Description
Caespitose perennial from a branched caudex clothed in old leaf bases. Stems erect, simple, 3–20 cm. Leaves basal and cauline, ciliate-petiolate, 1–7 cm long, deeply pinnately lobed into narrowly oblong segments, reduced upward. Vestiture of dense simple and branched hairs. Inflorescence a raceme, bracteate below. Flowers white to pinkish; petals 4–8 mm long. Fruits 5–9 mm long, narrowly allipsoid siliques with a prominent midvein; style 0.3–0.5 mm long; seeds in 1 row per locule; pedicels ascending-erect, 4–9 mm long. Stony soil of moraine, cliffs, talus slopes, fellfields; upper subalpine to alpine. (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Montana plants are variety americana (Regel & Herder) Drury & Rollins.

Range Comments
AK to OR and CO; Asia (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 106

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Stony soil of moraine, cliffs, talus slopes, fellfields; upper subalpine to alpine (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Ecology
POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus insularis and Bombus flavidus (Wilson et al. 2010).

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
    • Wilson, J.S., L.E. Wilson, L.D. Loftis, and T. Griswold. 2010. The montane bee fauna of north central Washington, USA, with floral associations. Western North American Naturalist 70(2): 198-207.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
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    • Aho, Ken Andrew. 2006. Alpine and Cliff Ecosystems in the North-Central Rocky Mountains. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 343 p.
    • Culver, D.R. 1994. Floristic analysis of the Centennial Region, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 199 pp.
    • Hawkins, P.H. 1903. The alpine flora of Montana. M.Sc. Thesis, Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 24 pp.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Martin, S.A. 1985. Ecology of the Rock Creek bighorn sheep herd, Beartooth Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 152 p.
    • Peck, S.V. 1972. The ecology of the Rocky Mountain goat in the Spanish Peaks area of southwestern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 54 p.
    • Simanonok, M.P., and L.A. Burkle. 2014. Partitioning interaction turnover among alpine pollination networks: Spatial temporal, and environmental patterns. Ecosphere 5(11):149.
    • Stewart, S.T. 1975. Ecology of the West Rosebud and Stillwater bighorn sheep herds, Beartooth Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 130 p.
    • Williams, K.L. 2012. Classification of the grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, forests and alpine vegetation associations of the Custer National Forest portion of the Beartooth Mountains in southcentral Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 376 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Alpine Smelowskia"
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Citation for data on this website:
Alpine Smelowskia — Smelowskia calycina.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from