Astragalus oniciformis Barneby is a narrow endemic xerophyte of the upper Snake River Plain of central Idaho, USA, where it inhabits stabilized, aeolian sand deposits and previously burned, sandy sites over Quaternary basalt flows. The objective of this study was to determine the levels and distribution of genetic differentiation within and among populations of A. oniciformis. Fifteen individuals from each of eight populations, chosen from throughout the range of the species, were selected based on accessibility, density of individuals, and large population size. Inter-simple sequence repeats were chosen as the marker to assess genetic differentiation. The two primers selected yielded 40 polymorphic loci in A. oniciformis. In an analysis of molecular variance, 88.69% of the variation was significantly attributed to variation within populations. High gene flow (N(m) = 3.91-3.93; SD = 0.01) and a low percentage deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium due to population subdivision (G(ST) = 0.113-0.1134; SD = 0.0002) were found among sampled populations. These results suggest that current threats to this species, including changing fire patterns and habitat loss from grazing disturbance, have not yet affected the genetic diversity of this species. Preservation of large populations and smaller, intervening, dispersed patches will help preserve the genetic integrity and the genetic diversity found in A. oniciformis.

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The Lomatium grayi complex is morphologically diverse across it range. The type species of this complex, Lomatium grayi s.s., has been found to not be a host of the larvae of Papilio indra, while the other three morphotypes are larval-hosts. A fifteen character, morphometric analysis was conducted on 390 herbarium specimens from throughout the range of this species. PCA, MANOVA, CDA, and Tukey tests revealed that the majority of the characters in this dataset were significantly different between four regional morphotypes. As a result of the morphometric analysis, the morphotypes are herein proposed as four species. Two new species are proposed for populations of L. grayi in the Pacific Northwest. Lomatium papilioniferum is proposed for plants in California, western Idaho, northern Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Lomatium klickitatense is proposed for populations of robust plants from western Klickitat County, Washington, and northern Hood River County, Oregon. Lomatium grayi var. depauperatum is elevated to a species. This leaves no infraspecific taxa within L. grayi s.s. A presence/absence phenetic analysis of combined essential oil data was inconclusive regarding the composition of L. grayi s.s., which was found to be more similar to Lomatium klickitatense and Lomatium depauperatum than other species of Lomatium. Taxonomic treatments for each of the four species in this complex are provided. A key to these species and the multiple species that have been commonly mistaken for L. grayi is also included.

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