New Plant Species

Douglasia conservatorum Björk is described as a new species from a single population in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains along the Idaho/Montana border in the United States. With other members of the genus, it shares a pink corolla color, branched and stellate trichomes, and pulvinate habit. Within Douglasia Lindl., it is unique in possessing papillae on the leaves, and additionally differs in its combination of traits of leaf shape, flower number, shape of the involucre bracts, and distribution and morphology of trichomes. Its morphology and range suggests that it is related to other temperate-climate Douglasia species, in contrast to all species in the northern, (sub)Arctic center of diversity. A key to Douglasia is presented. Like all other members of the genus, D. conservatorum is endemic to a small geographic range. The ecology and conservation priority of the species are discussed.

Sedum valens (Crassulaceae) is described from the Salmon River Canyon of central Idaho. Though it shares numerous morphological traits with Sedum borschii and S leibergii, the species differs strikingly in having myriad leaves packed into rosettes as wide as 1 dm. The leaves are ciliate, a characteristic otherwise unknown in temperate North American Sedum, except in Sedum radiatum, a high dissimilar species. Further distinguishing characteristics are found in leaf shape, phenology, fruit characteristics and in habitat.

Field data were gathered from 31 wild populations of Pyrrocoma liatriformus sensu lato (Asteraceae, Astereae). These are measures of degree of tomentosity and glandularity, number of lateral inflorescence branches, number, length and width of flower heads, width of phyllaries, and width of the lowest leaf of the inflorescence. Principle components analysis and univariate statistics of these characters reveal non-uniformity in the morphology of P. liatriformus sensu lato, with two identifiable morphologies corresponding to geographical range, as divided into the Palouse grasslands on the one hand and grasslands of the Snake River Canyons/Camas Prairie region on the other. The plants of the latter geographical range are represented by the type of Pyrrocoma scaberula, hitherto synonymized under P. liatriformis since the original publication of these names in 1909. The segregation of populations into a resurrected P. scaberula leaves P. liatriformis sensu stricto a much rarer and an even more threatened species. Conservation implications of this taxonomy are discussed.

Astralagus asotinensis Björk & Fishbein (Fabaceae) is newly discovered from a single population on limestone of the Limekiln Formation at the mouth of Hells Canyon in Washington and Idaho in the United States. This population of several thousand plants has yet to be found on any of the noncalcareous substrates in the vicinity. Its affinities appear closest to Astragalus sect. Podosclerocarpi A. Gray, which hitherto encompassed three species of the Columbia Basin of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, in northwestern North America. Astragalus asotinensis represents a disjunct element of section Podosclerocarpi, the nearest population of which, in the form of A. sclerocarpus A. Gray, occurs 150 km northwest. With species of section Podosclerocarpi, A asotinensis shares a strongly cauline habit, creamy white petals, non-gibbous calyx base, and stipitate, curved fruits. It is unique within section Podosclerocarpi in having sparse pubescence, a much longer ratio of peduncle-to-raceme length (4:1), and an intermediate leaflet length-width ratio (5:1).

Eriogonum soliceps, a new species of subg. Eucylca sect. Capitata, is described. It may be readily distinguished from all other taxa of the subgenus by its reduced inflorescence. From its presumed nearest relative, E. macum, this new species differs in its solitary (vs. 2-5) involucre, presence of a peduncle but no scape, lack of bracts at the base of the involucre, and distinctly pustulose midribs of the mature flowers.

Previous investigations into the morphology of Pyrrocoma liatriformis sensu lato in northern Idaho and adjacent Washington have revealed two distinct morphologies that correspond to their geographical ranges. These same populations and individuals have been analyzed using AFLP data. Over 400 loci were identified among all individuals using two sets of AFLP adaptors/ The data are in agreement with the morphological data and separate the populations from the Snake River Canyon/ Camas Prairie from those of the Palouse grasslands. Data clustering methodologies using both presence/absence data for all individuals an allele frequencies for each population produced similar results. We suggest the name P. scaberula be resurrected to encompass the populations from the Snake River Canyon and Camas Prairie.