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Nodding Locoweed - Oxytropis deflexa var. foliolosa
State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
DRAFT: Requesting feedback on the 2026 revised rank, factors, and State Rank Reason outlined below and in the Conservation Status Rank Report.
Oxytropis deflexa var. foliolosa is rare in Montana, being known from just over a half dozen sites in the southwest and south-central portions of the state. Occurrences are mostly at high elevations in the mountains though a few sites occur in some of the higher elevation valleys of Beaverhead and Madison County. Population sizes and trends are undocumented. No significant threats have been documented.
Surveys are needed at all the known occurrences to document population size and extent, habitat quality and potential threats. Monitoring of a subset of populations is needed to be able to determine potential trends. The identification of the more recently documented occurrences along the Ruby River and Sourdough Creek need to be verified, as the habitat is different than other known sites and digitized specimens are not available to review.
General Description
Pendent-pod Crazyweed is a perennial herb with leafless stems that are up to 15 cm high and arising from a simple or branched rootcrown. The basal, pinnately compound leaves have 9-17 narrowly elliptic leaflets that are 3-25 mm long. Leaf-like appendages, or stipules, located at the base of the long petioles, are lance-shaped and 6-12 mm long. The foliage is sparsely covered with long, appressed hairs. 3-10 sessile, pea-like, blue flowers are clustered at the tip of the stem. The upper petal of each flower is ca. 1 cm long, bent forward, and barely longer than the lateral, or wing, petals. The united lower petals, or keel, are shorter and have a nipple-like point at their tip. The black-hairy calyx has 5 narrow lobes and is 2/3 the length of the corolla. The nodding, tubular pods are 10-18 mm long, covered with appressed black hairs, and have a long indentation on one side.
Phenology
Flowering and fruiting in August.
Diagnostic Characteristics
The pendulous pods separate O. DEFLEXA from other members of the genus. O. DEFLEXA VAR SERICEA is usually taller with more than 10 flowers per inflorescence.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 10
(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
Gravelly, dry, limestone-derived slopes in the alpine zone.
National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species
Alpine
Alpine - Sparse and Barren
Alpine - Vegetated
Wetland and Riparian
Wet Meadow and Marsh
Ecology
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus appositus,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus nevadensis,
Bombus rufocinctus,
Bombus sylvicola,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus insularis, and
Bombus kirbiellus (Macior 1974, Bauer 1983, Shaw and Taylor 1986, Williams et al. 2014, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014).
Stewardship Responsibility
Threats or Limiting Factors
STATE THREAT SCORE REASON
Threat impact not assigned because threats are not known (MTNHP Threat Assessment 2021).
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Bauer, P.J. 1983. Bumblebee pollination relationships on the Beartooth Plateau tundra of Southern Montana. American Journal of Botany. 70(1): 134-144.
Macior, L.M. 1974. Pollination ecology of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Melanderia 15: 1-59.- Miller-Struttmann, N.E. and C. Galen. 2014. High-altitude multi-taskers: bumble bee food plant use broadens along an altitudinal productivity gradient. Oecologia 176:1033-1045.
- MTNHP Threat Assessment. 2021. State Threat Score Assignment and Assessment of Reported Threats from 2006 to 2021 for State-listed Vascular Plants. Botany Program, Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana.
- Shaw, D.C. and R.J. Taylor.1986. Pollination ecology of an alpine fell-field community in the North Cascades. Northwest Science 60:21-31.
- Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 p.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Culver, D.R. 1994. Floristic analysis of the Centennial Region, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 199 pp.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
- 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.
- Web Search Engines for Articles on "Nodding Locoweed"
