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Montana Field Guides

Curve-beak Lousewort - Pedicularis contorta

Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S4S5
C-value: 4


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

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General Description
Stems 8–30 cm, clustered on the caudex. Leaves mainly basal 3–14 cm long; blades deeply pinnately lobed into narrowly oblong, serrate segments 2–10 cm long. Inflorescence sparsely flowered, 2–20 cm long; bracts lanceolate with 1 or 2 pairs of linear lobes. Flowers: calyx 6–10 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes 1–3 mm long, the one closest to the galea shorter; corolla white to reddish-purple, 10–16 mm long; galea 5–8 mm long with a long, beak curved into a semicircle; lower lip wide, the 2 outer lobes much wider than the central one. Capsule 6–10 mm long (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Our plants are variety contorta, variety ctenophora (Rydb.) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr., and variety rubicunda Reese

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Range Comments
BC, AB south to CA, ID and WY (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 362

(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
Common in grasslands, meadows, open forest; montane, subalpine (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 vagans, Bombus appositus, Bombus bifarius, Bombus fervidus, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus frigidus, Bombus melanopygus, Bombus mixtus, Bombus rufocinctus, Bombus sylvicola, Bombus occidentalis, and Bombus kirbiellus (Plath 1934, Macior 1974, Wilson et al. 2010, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014, Williams et al. 2014).

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.
    • 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.
    • Plath, O.E. 1934. Bumblebees and their ways. New York, NY: Macmillan Company. 201 p.
    • Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 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
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Harvey, S.J. 1990. Responses of steppe plants to gradients of water soil texture and disturbance in Montana, U.S.A. Ph.D. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 34 p.
    • Hawkins, P.H. 1903. The alpine flora of Montana. M.Sc. Thesis, Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 24 pp.
    • Johnson, T. W. 1982. An analysis of pack and saddle stock grazing areas in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. M.Sc.Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 105 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.
    • Martinka, R.R. 1970. Structural characteristics and ecological relationships of male blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus (Say)) territories in southwestern Montana. Ph.D Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 73 p.
    • Reese, R.N. 1984. A new variety of Pedicularis contorta (Scrophulariaceae) endemic to Idaho and Montana. Brittonia 36:63-66.
    • South, P.R. 1957. Food habits and range use of the mule deer in the Scudder Creek area, Beaverhead County, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 34 p.
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Citation for data on this website:
Curve-beak Lousewort — Pedicularis contorta.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from