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Mountain Deathcamas - Zigadenus elegans
Other Names:
Anticlea elegans
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S4
C-value:
4
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
External Links
General Description
Stems 10–60 cm. Leaves glaucous, 8–30 cm × 2–10 mm. Inflorescence a raceme or branched panicle; flowers well-separated below; pedicels 5–40 mm long. Flowers: tepals 6–11 mm long, the inner longer with a claw 0.5–1 mm long; stamens as long as the tepals. Capsule 12–20 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Diagnostic Characteristics
Gleason and Cronquist (1991) made the distinction between the subspecies as Z. elegans subspecies glaucus being the plant occurring in the eastern portion of North America grading into subspecies elegans, the mainly cordilleran and western subspecies.
Fernald (1950) separated the plants into two species, however, the descriptions given can be applied to the plants now considered subspecies of Zigadenus elegans.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Considered collectively, Zigadenus elegans is distributed across much of the United States and Canada, ranging from Eastern Quebec to New York, disjunct in the southern Appalachian region, west to Arizona and New Mexico, north to Alaska. When broken down according to Gleason and Cronquist (1991) and Kartesz (1994) the subspecies have the following distributions:
Zigadenus elegans ssp. elegans: Alaska south to Arizona and New Mexico, eastward to Manitoba, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri (Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Gleason and Cronquist 1963, Fernald 1935).
Zigadenus elegans subspecies glaucus: Eastern Quebec to New York, west across the northern U.S. and adjacent Canada, occasionally in southern Ohio and northern Illinois, to the cordilleran region (grading into Z. elegans subspecies elegans in Minnesota and Iowa); disjunct in the southern Appalachian region (Virginia to North Carolina) and in the Ozarks (Missouri and Arkansas) (Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Gleason and Cronquist 1963, Fernald 1935).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 753
(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
Moist meadows, open forest, often along streams, stony, calcareous soil of exposed slopes, ridges; montane to lower alpine (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Stewardship Responsibility
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.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
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.
- Eversman, S.T. 1968. A comparison of plant communities and substrates of avalanche and non-avalanche areas in south central Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 39 pp.
- Fultz, J.E. 2005. Effects of shelterwood management on flower-visiting insects and their floral resources. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 163 p.
- Jones, W. W. 1901. Preliminary flora of Gallatin County. M.S. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State College. 78 pp.
- Joslin, G.J. 1975. Behavior and environmental selection by Elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) during surrmer and fall in the First and Second Yellow Mule drainages, Madison County, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University, Bozeman. 65 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Osmundson, T.W. 2003. Systematics of Rocky Mountain alpine Laccaria (basidiomycota, agaricales, tricholomataceae) and ecology of Beartooth Plateau alpine macromycetes. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 188 p.
- Simanonok, M. 2018. Plant-pollinator network assembly after wildfire. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 123 p.
- Simanonok, M.P. and L.A. Burkle. 2019. Nesting success of wood-cavity-nesting bees declines with increasing time since wildfire. Ecology and Evolution 9:12436-12445.
- Steerey, W. F. 1979. Distribution, range use and population characteristics of Mule Deer associated with the Schafer Creek winter range, Bridger Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 119 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.
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