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Alpine bistort - Polygonum viviparum
Other Names:
Bistorta vivipara
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S4
C-value:
7
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
External Links
General Description
Perennial from a corm-like rhizome. Stems erect, simple, 5–30 cm. Leaves: basal petiolate, the blades 1–9 cm long, narrowly lanceolate; cauline leaves few, smaller, sessile; stipules 4–22 mm long, glabrous, brown. Flowers functionally unisexual, 3–4 mm long, in a narrow spike 2–8 cm long, the lowest replaced by ovoid bulblets; pedicels spreading 2–5 mm long; tepals pink or green below and white above. Achene 3-sided, brown, 2–3 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Circumpolar south to OR, NM, MN and NH (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 96
(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 to wet turf, meadows, especially along streams and on cool slopes; alpine, subalpine, rarely lower (
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 bifarius,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus frigidus,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus sylvicola,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus insularis, and
Bombus kirbiellus (Macior 1974, Colla and Dumesh 2010).
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication
Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.- 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.
- 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.
- Barge, E.G. 2015. Systematics of Lactarius in the Rocky Mountain alpine zone. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 223 p.
- Cripps, C.L., U. Eberhardt, N. Schutz, H.J. Beker, V.S. Evenson, and E. Horak. 2019. The genus Hebeloma in the Rocky Mountain alpine zone. MycoKeys 46: 1-54. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.46.32823
- 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.
- Noffsinger, C.R. 2020. Systematic analysis of Russula in the North American Rocky Mountain alpine zone. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 277 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.
- Saunders, J.K. Jr. 1955. Food habits and range use of the Rocky Mountain goat in the Crazy Mountains, Montana. Journal of Wildlife Management 19(4):429-437.
- Saunders, J.K., Jr. 1954. A two-year investigation of the food habits and range use of the Rocky Mountain goat in the Crazy Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 22 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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