ECOS Guide to the Ecology of the Northern Rockies

Plant Guide

The Plant Guide is an online interactive database of the most common plant species in the Clark Fork and Bitterroot Valleys surrounding Missoula and Ravalli Counties in western Montana. The guide contains plant descriptions and ecological information, as well as traditional and contemporary human uses, and histories of these plants, along with many high resolution photos at various life stages, and interactive keys to help identify specimens or photos of plants. The database can also be searched to determine which species are used for food, medicine or are important as habitat for wildlife, or simply by geographic region, flower color, family or habitat. To the extent possible our descriptions and photos describe the specifics of these species and their ecology in western Montana. A rotating specimen library is being developed as an additional resource for K-12 schools in teaching about the plant diversity of this region.

Plants in western Montana

Plants are key to habitats of wildlife and as primary producers largely determine the biological productivity of ecosystems, and also play major roles in nutrient recycling and fire. They are also quite diverse. While much is known about a few species of economic importance, there is much to be learned about the basic ecology of most species. Upwards of 20,000 species of vascular plants (not including mosses, liverworts, lichens, fungi…) occur north of Mexico in North America. Approximately 1,500 species of plants are known to occur in Missoula and Ravalli counties alone, which includes most of the species known to occur in Montana. While in disturbed grasslands in low elevation valleys it is easy to get the impression that most of our plants are invasive exotic weeds, even in these habitats there is a rich variety of native plant species. Only about 200 species are exotic in the state, although every year more get established here. On Mount Sentinel alone 200 species have been documented to occur on its dry western slopes.

We have a rich variety of plants here primarily because western Montana is a biological crossroads between the Great Basin in Idaho and Utah, the coastal Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, and the boreal forests of Canada. Also we have a complex geological history with many ancient remnants of continental crusts, recent volcanic deposits, rich alluvial deposits, and many mineral-rich metamorphosed rocks all expressed over a highly varied topography and landscape. Few plant species are unique to Montana, but many are threatened and of conservation interest (http://nhp.nris.state.mt.us/plants). For more information about the plants of this area see the University of Montana Herbarium, (http://herbarium.dbs.umt.edu/contacts) Montana Plant-Life, (http://montana.plant-life.org), and the Montana Native Plant Society (http://www.umt.edu/mnps). The most complete digital key to plants of this region (Flora ID NW ) is available from: http://xidservices.com.

Follow the links below to access the guide.