V05-1, Fall 1991 – “The Rattlesnake Experience” by John Pierce describes his method of documenting the flora of the proposed Rattlesnake Wilderness and the mounting technique he used to make a publicly accessible collection of the plants for the public library; Society President Angela Evenden discussed the interagency process for developing a natural areas network emphasizing 9 different sorts of natural areas; “Yew Bark Collection Position Appealed” discusses issues related to collecting Yew bark for making taxol and the appeal of a categorical exclusion to allow such collection; a “Bits and Pieces” collection of small notices includes inter alia information on the demise of David Douglas while doing fieldwork in Hawaii, and on finding a still-green 17-million-year-old magnolia leaf in Idaho; field trip reports include Kirk Hill, gardens around Polson and Ronan, explorations in the Big Timber area, Packer Meadows, St. Mary’s Peak, Shoo-Fly Meadows, and Mt. Siyeh; and Judy Hoy updates earlier observations on the occurrence of vagrant lichens in Western Montana.
V05-2, Winter 1992 – In a “Profile of Montana’s Uncommon Plants,” Jan Nixon describes “Jove’s Buttercup… Giant of the Plant World”; a reprinted newspaper article reports, “Howellia aquatilis Proposed for Listing as an Endangered Species”; “Conservation Bullets” discuss wetlands protection, renewing the Endangered Species Act, toll-free pesticide info, Montana Wilderness Bill, recycling hotline, and “Audubon Saves Ancient Cedar Grove”; Ruth Unger offers “Successful Seed Collecting Tips for Natives”; “Knapweed as a Cash Crop” is an interesting little reprint on what would seem an unlikely problem; and Richard Prodgers reports on “Unusual Species Found on Reclaimed Coal Mine Sites.”
V05-3, Spring 1992 – “Montana’s Most Diminutive Alpine Plants,” by Douglas N. Reynolds gives adaptive and ecological accounts of several alpine annuals including Koenigia islandica, Polygonum minimum, and Gentiana tenella – with references for further reading; while not a native plant, St. John’s Wort is considered by Kim Erica Schleicher in a “Montana Medicinals” article; “Yellow is the Color of Spring” by Peter Lesica documents his observations on the relative abundance of yellow flowers in early spring and offers a pollinator-related hypothesis; and the Hoskins Lake and Wolf-Weigel Research Natural Areas in the Kootenai National Forest are described.
V05-4, Summer 1992 – Loren Bahls advances our knowledge of some small cogs and wheels in “A Bouquet of Algae: Plant Diversity and Water Quality in Montana’s Streams”; “In Memoriam: Arthur Cronquist, 1919–1992” includes two compelling biographical sketches of the great botanist; Robyn Klein helps answer the question, “Astragalus americanus, A Healing Plant?”; and in “Big Trees under the Big Sky,” Steve Chadde and Steve Arno document the revitalization of Montana’s Big Tree Register and include a list of the champions, including species with no records.
