SAWTOOTH NATIONAL FOREST

• Main Authors: Little Wood River, Pioneer Mountains, Robert K. Moseley, Jerry M. Conley
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1993
• Subjects: Purchase Order No. 43-0267-3-0092; Arctic; Kane; Kane Lake; Wood River; nodding saxifrage; Saxifraga cernua
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.472.6038

iABSTRACT Comprehensive alpine floristic studies in Idaho, began about 20 years ago. There are still many gaps regarding our knowledge of the distribution of Idaho's alpine flora. One of these is the alpine zone in the Little Wood River drainage, in the southern Pioneer Mountains, Blaine County. To fill this gap I conducted a floristic survey in the area in June and August, 1993. I observed or collected 125 vascular plants from the alpine zone, only three of which are considered rare in Idaho, Carex straminiformis (Mt. Shasta sedge), Saxifraga adscendens (wedge-leaf saxifrage) and Saxifraga cernua (nodding saxifrage). This is considerably less than documented from the Kane Lake Cirque in the northern Pioneers. The difference in the number of rare species probably results from the predominantly south aspects of the cirques in the Little Wood study area. Kane Lake Cirque faces due north and has steep, high headwalls on the west, south, and east, providing an extraordinarily cold, moist environment suitable for uncommon arctic and alpine disjuncts in Idaho. I provide an annotated checklist of the alpine flora of the Little Wood River, and discuss the conservation status of the three rare species.