Manual of Montana Vascular Plants

About this book

Montana is the fourth largest state in the United States. It includes portions of the Northern Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. The vegetation of Montana is diverse, due primarily to the size of the state and its great topographic relief, which provide strong variation in environmental factors. Montana has a relatively large flora for a northern continental region due to being at the intersection of the Cordilleran, Great Plains and Boreal floristic provinces. This book is a comprehensive field guide to the more than 2,500 species of Montana's vascular plants. It contains descriptions as well as habitat and distribution information based on specimens housed at the state's two major herbaria. Portraits or illustrations of diagnostic structures are provided for nearly one-third of the species.

Published 13 years after the 2012 first edition, this second edition became necessary by the publication of the second edition of the Flora of the Pacific Northwest. More than 40% of the species listed in the 1st edition of the Flora PNW have different names in the 2nd edition. A second important reason for this new edition is the creation of the Pacific Northwest Herbaria Consortium Database over the past ten years. This spectacular resource has allowed the author to use voucher specimens from many herbaria throughout the Pacific Northwest to update the county range maps and produce an improved manual.

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Biography

Peter Lesica spent the past forty summers botanizing across Montana. He is the author of Flora of Glacier National Park and has coauthored publications on  Montana’s rare plants, wetland plants, and alpine vegetation as well as conducting vegetation ecology research throughout the state. He is an affiliate faculty member at the University of Montana and the president of Conservation Biology Research.

Matt Lavin is a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences & Plant Pathology at Montana State University. His primary interests are the systematics of the legume and grass families. He teaches plant systematics and agrostology.

Peter F. Stickney is a retired U.S. Forest Service research plant ecologist. He has a particular interest in the Ericaceae in the northern Rocky Mountains. Currently he is curator emeritus of the Forest Service herbarium in Missoula.

Debbie McNiel has provided botanical art for the Nature Conservancy, the Montana Natural Heritage Program, the University of Montana, and illustrated the Flora of Glacier National Park. She lives in the Yaak Valley of northwest Montana.

Rich Adam draws much of his inspiration from the scenery and wildlife unique to western Montana. His work combines a passion for technical accuracy with creative artistic compositions. He lives in Missoula.

Claire Emery is an artist, naturalist and educator. Her career began in the mountains with a field journal and pen in hand. She focuses on conveying the beauties and mysteries of nature through art and education.