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Plant Profile

Alpine Feverfew (Parthenium alpinum)

Photo Credit: Jim Locklear

Global Rank: G3 - Vulnerable
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Asteraceae
State: CO, NM, WY
Nature Serve ID: 135116
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/25/1988

Description:

The Wyoming feverfew was lost for over 100 years. First collected in 1834 by famed botanical explorer Thomas Nuttall somewhere along the route that would later become the Oregon Trail, it was not seen again until 1947, when it was rediscovered in central Wyoming. Inhabiting rocky, windswept places on the plains, Wyoming feverfew is an inconspicuous, cushion-forming plant that is easily overlooked even by seasoned botanists.

Where is Alpine Feverfew (Parthenium alpinum) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Rocky ridges and hills, flat areas with rocky pavement, gravelly loam and sandy slopes on the plains. Often in association with limestone. Occurs in cushion plant communities within more densely vegetated mixed grass prairie, with Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) sometimes in association.

Distribution:

Centered in southeastern and central Wyoming (Goshen, Platte, Natrona and Carbon counties), with slightly disjunct occurrences in northeastern Colorado (Weld County). Isolated, highly disjunct occurre

States & Provinces:

Alpine Feverfew can be found in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming

Which CPC Partners conserve Alpine Feverfew (Parthenium alpinum)?

Lauritzen Gardens

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/11/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

09/23/2020

Successfully propagated from seed, with no special pretreatment needed (Nebraska Statewide Arboretum).

09/23/2020

Successfully propagated from seed, with no special pretreatment needed (Nebraska Statewide Arboretum).

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

A regional endemic with 54 known occurrences.

Jim Locklear

01/01/2010

Construction associated with oil and gas development. Off-road vehicle damage.

Jim Locklear

01/01/2010

Colorado: 2 known occurrences (O'Kane 1988). Wyoming: ca. 25 known occurrences (Hartman and Nelson 1995).

Jim Locklear

01/01/2010

Successfully propagated from seed, with no special pretreatment needed (Nebraska Statewide Arboretum).

Jim Locklear

01/01/2010

Clarify the actual distribution of P. alpinum by determining whether plants found in the isolated, highly disjunct occurrences listed above under ""Distribution"" are P. alpinum or P. tetraneuris.