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A Flora of Waterton Lakes National Park Job Kuijt The University of Lethbridge I I The University of Alberta Press First published by The University of Alberta Press Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Copyright The University of Alberta Press 1982 ISBN 0-88864-065-X (hardcover) 0-88864-076-5 (softcover) Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Kuijt, Job. A Flora of Waterton Lakes National Park ISBN 0-88864-065-X (bound).-ISBN 0- 88864-076-5 (pbk.) 1. Botany—Alberta—Waterton Lakes National Park. 2. Waterton Lakes National Park(Alta.) I. Title. QK203.A6K84 581.97123'4 C81-091231-7 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. Typesetting by The Typeworks Mayne Island, British Columbia Printed by Hignell Printing Limited Winnipeg, Manitoba To T.M.C. (Tommy) Taylor, mentor, collaborator, father-in-law, and friend The most significant earlier plant collection in Waterton Lakes was made by August J. Breitung, cul­ minating in a remarkably de­ tailed catalogue of species (see Bibliography). Contents Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv Master Keys 1 Descriptive Flora in Alphabetical Arrangement 23 Glossary 654 Bibliography 659 Index 663 Preface This book is intended to be useful both to professional biologists and to the interested public, an intent which is expressed in sev­ eral ways. First of all, the technical terminology which so often lessens the usefulness of floras has been kept to an absolute mini­ mum. Actually, a very large percentage of the usual technical, de­ scriptive terms can be painlessly replaced by everyday equiva­ lents without appreciable loss of accuracy. Why "caespitose" if everyone knows what "tufted" means? Why a "culm" in grasses but a "stem" elsewhere? Why "rhizome" here and "rootstock" there, if glossaries show them to be synonymous? Only in some large and specialized groups such as grasses and sedges do we need to keep a very few technical terms. Secondly, virtually every species de­ scribed is provided with at least a simple habit drawing. Thirdly, the treatment is consistently alphabetical —initially at the family level and, within each family, at the level of the genus and finally at that of the species. While this arrangement will disturb some professional botanists who have learned to work within a phylo- genetical framework, my attitude is that neither a herbarium nor a flora are appropriate places to express such systems. The sup­ posed convenience of having related families grouped together is, I think, greatly overrated, and in any case is far outweighed by the advantages of the alphabetical sequence. It is altogether too easy to be overwhelmed by the labors in­ volved in keying out a species from the beginning. However, expe- XII rience very quickly yields profits in that for many large families the earlier keys can be by-passed (this is not to be recommended until one has a good deal of reliable intuition!). For example, the members of the Sunflower Family have such a distinctive flower- cluster and flower, that no more than a quick check of four or five facts places a plant securely in that family; the same is true for some other large groups. In fact, the practicing botanist seldom uses anything but the penultimate keys. In order to speed up the growth of this type of invaluable intuition, I have, in certain early positions in the keys, incorporated more direct channels to several large assemblages, such as Compositae, Leguminosae, and Cruci- ferae. The illustrations, with the exception of T.C. Brayshaw's ones of Salix as acknowledged under that genus, are my own, and are intended to convey mostly the habit of the plant. In specific in­ stances (as in the grasses and Carex) one or more features are added if useful. An effort has been made to ensure that as many drawings as possible are based on material from Waterton or vicinity. Some of the illustrations have earlier appeared in my Common Coulee Plants of Southern Alberta. The magnifications are frequently indicated by means of two different kinds of meas­ ures, a thin and a thick line, the former denoting a mm scale, the latter a cm scale. The actual size can thus be read off from the unit measure closest to it. Acknowledgements A floristic treatment such as the present one is the outcome of a vast amount of accumulated work only part of which is the author's. It would not have been possible to write this Flora with­ out the numerous studies which preceded it. More immediately, I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of specialists who, at various tirnes, have been so kind to identify materials and/or who have contributed more directly to the treatment of their species groups: G.W. Argus (Salix), T.M. Barkley (Senecio), R.C. Barneby (Astragalus, Oxytropis), J.H. Beaman (Townsendia), A. Cronquist (Compositae), WG. Dore (Gramineae), J.M. Gillett (Lupinus), N.A. Harriman (Juncus), C.L. Hitchcock (Cruciferae), N.H. Holmgren (Castilleja), R.C. Rollins (Cruciferae), T. M.C. Taylor (Pteridophyta, Carex, Potentilla). Additionally, my thanks go to John Nagy, who helped collect much of the materials utilized for the preparation of the Flora, and to Darwyn Coxson for various assistance in the later stages of the work. The map was prepared by Stan Young, and the half tones are by C.B. Beaty. I am indebted to Ross Munro and Dawn Dickinson for assistance in proof reading. The manuscript was read and useful editorial suggestions were made by Dr. J.H. Soper of the National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, and by Dr. Roy L. Taylor of the Botanical Gardens at the University of British Columbia. The project was initially funded by Parks Canada and has re- XIV ceived continuing support from the National Science and Engi­ neering Research Council of Canada. A special vote of thanks goes to the Alberta 75 Committee of the Province of Alberta for financial support in publication, thus making the Flora more accessible to the general public. Introduction In a province rich in scenic and biological contrasts, the south­ western corner of Alberta is especially well endowed. Here the prairies penetrate into the lower mountain valleys, and a combi­ nation of climatic, topographic, and historical factors allow num­ erous plant species to thrive which otherwise are either not known or are rare elsewhere in Alberta. It is no exaggeration to say that most of the rarest plants of the province are found in this region. It was therefore exceedingly fortunate that the most im­ portant portion of the area (presently 204 sq. miles) was set aside at an early date (1895) to become Waterton Lakes National Park, complementing the larger Glacier National Park across the inter­ national boundary in Montana. Earlier Botanical Studies of Waterton Lakes The botanical wealth of Waterton Lakes was not adequately ap­ preciated until the appearance in 1957 of August J. Breitung's Plants of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, primarily based on his own collections made in the Park somewhat earlier. The re­ sultant list was remarkably detailed, considering the resources available at the time, and complemented P.C. Standby's early Flora of Glacier National Park, Montana (1921). The depth of XVI coverage which we find for southwestern Alberta in E.H. Moss's "Flora of Alberta," published two years after Breitung's list, can to some extent be credited to the tatter's work (see p. vii). In 1969 I initiated the first of two concentrated seasons of col­ lecting in Waterton Lakes with a view to producing an illustrated manual of all the known higher plants of the Park. The necessary work involved, in spite of valuable assistance received from many specialists, has seen many interruptions, and has had to compete with other research. In 1973 I published a preliminary list of plant records new to Waterton. In the intervening years informa­ tion has been refined, corrected, and expanded to culminate in the present comprehensive treatment. A work such as this, of course, can never be final. There are almost certainly additional species in the Park which still await discovery; I have tried throughout, however, to indicate by way of extrapolation from surrounding areas what species might still be looked for. We may also expect new or repeated invasions of weedy plants. To cite an example, it was during the course of this work that the spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) became thoroughly established in the Park, and there are several other obvious weeds in the Crowsnest Pass area which seem to be similarly poised for an in­ vasion, such as Gypsophila paniculata, Silene cucubalus and Ver- bascum thapsus. The above-mentioned studies together emphasize dramati­ cally the botanical wealth of Waterton Lakes. In 1973 I could write that the species reported for the Park constituted some 55% of the number of species recorded for the entire province. While the forthcoming revision of the Flora of Alberta by J.G. Packer will undoubtedly modify this figure slightly, the final percentage will remain a strong expression of the Park's floral wealth, espe­ cially when we remember that the province is more than one thousand times as large as the Park. Geographical Boundaries of this Study What has become strongly underlined also in the course of this work is the fact that the botanical uniqueness of the area scarcely stops at the Park's northern borders. I would have liked to have XVII included the area up to the Crowsnest Pass. However, that region has been inadequately collected, and detailed statements are in most cases quite impossible.

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