This article was published in the May 2008 version of Castilleja, the newsletter of the Wyoming Native Plant Society:

A Floristic Inventory of Grand Teton National Park and the Pinyon Peak Highlands, WY

Dave Scott (Kesonie), University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

Principal Investigator: R. Hartman, Co-PrincipaI Investigator: B.E. Nelson

                  Results of a floristic inventory in the Teton Mountains and adjacent Pinyon Peak Highlands document a rich flora and fill in crucial gaps.  Field work associated with my master’s research and partially funded by the Wyoming Native Plant Society 2007 Markow Botany Research Scholarship has amounted to many additions to the local flora.  Two species previously unknown to Wyoming are now acknowledged and 85 species have been added to the Grand Teton National Park vascular plant list. 

                We initiated this study in response to a known data gap on federal lands of northwest Wyoming where the unique habitats of the Teton area were not well represented by specimens in regional herbaria.   We first examined a list of vascular plant collections held by the Rocky Mountain Herbarium (RM) for areas managed by Grand Teton National Park.  Vouchers were available for the easily-accessible valley bottom within the Park but outlying backcountry areas were not well-represented.  Several townships within the project area (each 36 square miles) had less than 15 specimens/township at the RM.  Further, a broad scale plant collection effort for purposes of cataloging the extant floristic diversity had never been undertaken within the project area.  We included in our study area a remote portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest known as the Pinyon Peak Highlands which lies within the Teton Wilderness, and lands on the Targhee National Forest, and lastly the National Park Service managed John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway (JDR).

                Two summers were spent collecting vascular plants across the project area including remote backcountry localities and frontcountry areas.  Habitats encountered include montane ponds and bogs, the sagebrush valley bottom of Jackson Hole, montane and subalpine slopes, and alpine areas up to 11,300 feet.  Plants were pressed and dried then identified at the Rocky Mountain Herbarium with some specimens being verified by specialists.  These scientific vouchers representing 8012 collections now serve as the basis of this project’s results. 

                Two species were collected for the first time in Wyoming.  A native sedge Carex atrosquama was collected by R. Hartman in the south end of Grand Teton National Park in montane habitat.  Likewise, I collected Achillea ptarmica in Grand Teton National Park but near historic buildings whereby it is now escaped from cultivation and naturalized.  The latter collection represents a cultivar that was bred from the mentioned European species for its showy white ray florets. 

                We identified 85 species that had not yet been collected on Grand Teton National Park or the JDR.   Some of these were from alpine areas: Draba cana, Elymus alaskanus ssp. latiglumis, and Townsendia parryi.  Other notable collections were from aquatic habitats:  Lemna gibba, Myriophyllum verticillatum, Stuckenia pectinata.  Historical species (Keinath et al. 2003), those that had not been collected or relocated in more than 30 years and tracked as rare by Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD) were also collected: Carex proposita and Huperzia haleakalae.  The latter, a fern ally had in fact been collected only once in Wyoming in the early 1930’s but was misidentified for many decades due to the poor condition of the original specimen.  Overall, 13 WYNDD species of conservation concern were documented that were otherwise previously unknown to the Park.

                Outstanding contributions to our species list from the Pinyon Peak Highlands, Bridger-Teton National Forest are: Carex cusickii, Eriogonum flavum var. piperi, Sanicula graveolens, Spirodela polyrhiza.  A remarkable pattern was uncovered in examination of the habitat characteristics of the rare sedge Carex cusickii documented in this project.  The Pinyon Peak Highlands population occurred adjacent to a cold upwelling spring, a rare habitat in that part of the project area.  Two populations from the JDR were adjacent to upwelling thermal springs and only one other population was detected.  These findings could direct future surveys toward these habitats.  The upwelling springs habitat association had not previously been established with this species.

All species mentioned thus far were located in intact habitats free from direct human disturbance.  Some introduced plants now shown to occur in the project area include: Lappula squarrosa, Logfia arvensis, Salix fragilis.  Many more populations of locally notorious weeds were also documented.

In total 987 taxa were found within the project area.  The discovery of new populations of WYNDD tracked species is among the greatest contributions of this study.  All taxa are now represented by the best evidence of their presence, which are research-quality specimens deposited at a nationally recognized institution, the RM.  Future work on rare or invasive plants in the project area and beyond can now be directed by the findings of this baseline study.

Literature Cited:

Keinath, D., B. Heidel, and G. Beauvais.  2003.  Wyoming plant and animal species of conservation concern.  Unpublished document.  Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, Laramie, WY.

Contact Information:

Dave Scott (Kesonie)

dscott1@uwyo.edu