Field Guide to Forest Plants of Northern Idaho
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United States Department of Agriculture Field Guide to Forest Service Forest Plants of Intermountain Research Station Ogden, Utah 84401 Northern Idaho General Technical Patricia A. Patterson Report INT-180 Kenneth E. Neiman April 1985 Jonalea R. Tonn THE AUTHORS Patricia A. Patterson, forester, Clearwater National Forest, was assigned major responsibility for development of this field g.uide, while assisting the northern ldaho habitat type refinement project. She holds B.S. degrees in both forest management and wood utilization from the University of ldaho where she is currently working on an M.S. degree in forest management. She was a seasonal employee for the Clearwater National Forest since 1981. Kenneth E. Neiman, plant ecologist, Clearwater National Forest, was co-leader of the northern ldaho habitat type refinement project and directed this effort to create a regional field guide for plant species of ecological importance. He holds a B.S. degree in range management and an M.S. degree in forest and range ecology both from Washington State Univerisity, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in forest ecology at the University of Idaho. He was Zone Ecologist for the northern ldaho national forests since 1981 . Jonalea R. Tonn, forester, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, originally developed a similar guide for use by INT research field crews. She has been directly involved in developing, writing, and reviewing all material in this field guide. She earned both a B.S. and an M.F. in forestry from the University of Idaho. She joined the Intermountain Station at Moscow in 1978. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Major financial support for this guide was provided by Timber Management, Northern Region of the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the Clearwater National Forest, Nezperce National Forest, and the ldaho Panhandle National Forests through a cooperative agreement with the lntermoutain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Many people have volunteered their time and effort in reviewing and contributing to this publication. We wish to thank the following individuals whose aid, suggestions, and support have greatly increased the quality of this guide: Peter F. Stickney (Inter-mountain Station), Anita Cholewa (Washington State University), Daniel J . Holden (Nezperce National Forest), Fredric D. Johnson (University of Idaho), Charles A. Wellner (USDA Forest Service, retired), and Richard T. Bingham (USDA Forest Service, retired). Reviews and suggestions were supplied by persons too numerous to list here with the exception of Cynthia Lacky and Kathleen Roche (Idaho Panhandle National Forests). Many long hours of volunteer labor along with constructive suggestions were supplied by Donald Patterson (Clearwater National Forest) during 'the initial development and creation of this field guide. Drawings originally published in C. L. Hitchcock and others (1955-69) were used with permission from the University of Washington Press. New illustrations have been added through the volunteer efforts of Anita Cholewa, Lisa Marie Skovlin, (Sawtooth National Forest)' and Kathleen Dawes (Moscow, ID). CONTENTS Page Introduction .............................. 1 Species Description Format ...................... 2 I Trees ................................. 5 Shrubs ................................ 29 Ferns and Friends .......................... 83 Forbs ................................. 97 Graminoids .............................. 195 Descriptive Drawings ......................... 221 Collecting and Pressing Methods ....................229 Glossary ...............................232 References ..............................239 Index of Scientific Names .......................242 Index of Common Names ........................244 TABLES Key to Native Trees and Tall Shrubs ............... 7 Betula Conspectus ....................... 11 Shrub Characteristics ...................... 30 Alnus Conspectus ........................33 Ribes Conspectus ....................... 60 Rosa Conspectus ........................ 63 Rubus Conspectus ....................... 67 Vaccinium Conspectus ..................... 78 Key to Ferns and Friends .................... 84 Forb Characteristics ....................... 98 Corallorhiza Conspectus .................... 126 Liliaceae Conspectus ......................129 Habenaria Conspectus ..................... 142 Mitella Conspectus .......................156 Pyrola Conspectus ....................... 170 Viola Conspectus .......................190 Graminoid Characteristics .....................196 Carex Conspectus .......................202 Luzula Conspectus ......................213 Figure 1 .--The portion of Idaho (hatched area) covered by this guide. INTRODUCTION This field guide has been developed specifically to complement the --Forest Habitat Types of Northern ldaho (Cooper and others 1983). The geographic area covered is Idaho's forested lands from the Salmon River drainage north to the Canadian border (fig. 1). This guide is not meant to be a comprehensive taxonomy to northern ldaho flora, but rather an identification aid for species having forested habitat type indicator value within this geographic area. Criteria for species selection were: common overall occurrence in mature to old-growth forested stands, special environmental or habitat type indicator value, and special interest within northern Idaho. Additional species have been included that are ~norphologically similar to and often confused with selected indicator species. Species descriptions are based on Flora of the Pacific Northwest (C.L. Hitchcock and Cronquist 1973) and Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Parts 1-5 (C.L. Hitchcock and others 1955-1969). Frorn the above sources, we constructed characteristics tables, dichotomous keys and conspectuses as a simplified means to initially determine genus or species. Within the characteristics table, pseudo-keys using one or more easily determined characteristics, such as leaf arrangement, are used to group species. Final identification must correlate the specimens' characteristics with the species description. The species descriptions and keys were developed for people with a minimum of botanical training. We emphasized characteristics that are useful for field identification of the species within the context of a northern ldaho location. In other geographic areas having a different floristic composition or environment, these distinctive field characteristics may not be usable for identification of a species. Citations for a number of authoritative floras for northern ldaho are included in the References. This publication is the product of two previous informal drafts. Many corrections, additional species, keys, species comparison guides, and handy field characteristics have been added. As updating, correcting, and improving are unending tasks for botanical field guides, the authors would appreciate receiving comments, suggestions, or criticisms at: USDA Forest Service lnternouritain Forest and Range Experiment Station 1221 S. hlain Street Moscow, IC 83843 SPECIES DESCRIPTION FORMAT (A) FAMILY Tribe (B) Genus specific epithet' Authorship (C) Standard vegetation code (Dl common name or names FORM: Lifeform or habit with general description of height and roots. NATIONAL or IDAHO CHAMP ION : Record tree measl~relnents and general locatiorl (E). STEMS: General characterist~cs(F) and rneasurernents (G) BARK: General chat.acteristics ( F] anri ~neasur-emc-nts (G). BUDS: General characteristics IF) .irid rrieascr r-emcnts (G) BUNDLE SCARS: General char-~ctc.11st1c.5 (F) and measure~nents(G). LEAVES: General characteristics (F:) and rneasut-enients (G). FLOWERS: Genera! characterist~cs (F) arid me~surerricr~tsIG). SPORANGIUM: General charactet,istics (F) arld rneasl.lru-- ments (G) used to describe the rep~.o(luc.tive str~~ctut.esin Ferns and Friends. INFLORESCENCE: General chat-a~ter~~L~~~( F) and rncasure ments (G) used to descr-lbe grarn~no~ds CONES: General characteristics (F) and rneas~~l.enlents(GI. FRUIT: General characteristics (F) and rneasurements (G) ENEMIES: List of common injurious diseascs and insects in order of decreasing damage potential. A generalized detrimental or advantageous response to Fire (ti1. SIMILAR SPECIES: List of easily confused genus and species HABITAT: General site character-istics (J! . NOTES: Special interest items 1K) CONSTANCY TABLE: A table of constancy by habitat type for c.azh species is included along the Inner margin [L). ' Letter codes explained in mow detail on pages 3-4. 2 (A) The species description layout was patterned after a similar description layout in Randall and Kenistoti (19G8). The text and terminology style was patterned after the above cited plant taxonomies. Line drawings used throughout the guide are from C.L. Hitchcock and others (1955-1969), Hayes and Garrison (IgGO), and Anon. (1981 ) . Additional drawings were provided by persons listed in Acknowlegments. Scale perspective is provided by a six foot forester standing next to a typical plant. (B) Family from CI-onquist (1931). GRAMINEAE tribes from A.S Hitchcock (1971). (C) The authority used for species authorship was C.L. Hitchcock and Cronquist (1973). (D) Standarized vegetation codes are frorn Garrison and others (1976). These codes facilitate species field data entry and data exchange between agencies. This system uses the first two letters of the genus and specific epithet to create a 4-letter code, such as Asca fot- Asarum caudatum. In cases of duplication a suffix number is added,