Montana Field Guide

Stems orange-yellow to olive-green or brownish, 2-15(-20) cm long, much-branched, usuall tufted (scattered), the segments 1-2(-4) mm thick, mostly 5-10 times as long; accessory branches (if any) in one plane, the branches at each node fanline; staminate flowers usually paired at each node, sessile or subsessile, 2.5-3 mm broad, yellow or orange to green, the perianth parts 3 or 4 (sometimes varying even in separate flowers at the same node); pistillate flowers 1 or 2 per node, sessile or with slender pedicels up to 1 mm long; fruit 3-5 mm long (Hitchcock, 1964, Vasc. Pl. Pac. Northwest, Part 2).

Confierous forests. According to Hitchcock (1964), greenish-brown stems likely would be associated with Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) or Whitebark pine (P. albicaulis). Greenish stems likely would be associated with Western white pine (P. monticola). Orange-yellow to brownish stems would likely be associated with Ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa) or Lodgepole pine (P. contorta).