County Distribution: It has only been found in two places on the Ashland District of the Custer National Forest (Heidel and Marriott 1996), and these represent the known Powder River and Rosebud records. In the course of this survey there was very little suitable habitat in the areas that were visited, so it was not found and no additional data was collected on this species and its distribution. Ecology and management considerations: This plant seems restricted to mesic microhabitats within pine woodlands, which could make it vulnerable to changes in woodland structure and composition by grazing and logging. These settings are also vulnerable to invasion of exotic species like Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). There were fire scars among the Ponderosa pine at one of the Ashland District sites where it occurred, indicating that the species survives ground fires. Status note: Since this species is restricted to woodlands and has not been found on BLM lands in Montana, it could be dropped from BLM "Watch" status. Ceanothus herbaceous, New Jersey tea (G5, SH) County Distribution: The single collection of this species in Montana was from a "grassy, pine-covered hill" in Powder River County. There are few pine stands on BLM lands in the county, and of the few that were surveyed, none appeared to have suitable microhabitat. It is not known whether this species is restricted to pineland habitat in Montana, and we also looked for it nearby grassland habitat on BLM lands. We did not locate it, and were unable to collect any additional data on this species in the county. Ecology and management considerations: We have no information on the ecology of this plant. It has reportedly diminished elsewhere on the Great Plains (Ode, pers. comm.) Some species of Ceanothus are highly palatable to wildlife and livestock.

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