Primulaceae -- Dodecatheon key and descriptions

Dodecatheon L.-SHOOTING STAR

Uniquely attractive among the wildflowers at Mount Adams, the shooting stars have basal leaves and leafless flowering stems that terminate in small umbels. Each flower has 5 petals (rarely 4) that are united into a short tube; the free lobe of each petal is turned sharply backwards, resembling a cyclamen. The petals are pink to deep rose to purplish, although albino plants are known. The stamens are exserted and pressed against the style, giving a "beak" to the flower. The fruit is a thin-walled capsule that ruptures at the top.

1 Stigma slender, about the width of the style …................................................ D. conjugens ssp. conjugens
1 Stigma enlarged, headlike, about twice the width of the style …………………............……………………………………… 2

2(1) Sepals and stems of the flowers glandular-hairy; flowers typically with 5 petals ………...........................…… D. jeffreyi
2 Sepals and stems of the flowers hairless, not glandular; flowers typically with 4 petals ……..................................… D. alpinum

Dodecatheon alpinum (A. Gray) Greene-ALPINE SHOOTING STAR

Very similar in appearance to small specimens of D. jeffreyi, this species can be recognized by the absence of glandular hairs in the inflorescence and the strong tendency of the flower to have just 4 petals. Its leaves are up to 10 cm long and only about 1.5 cm broad, much smaller than the average for Jeffrey's shooting star.

Evidently very rare at Mount Adams and distant from its typical California to northeastern Oregon range, the species is included based upon a collection made in 1954 by Carl Nelson at Mirror Lake, on the southeast side of Mount Adams. It was not seen there during the present study.

Dodecatheon conjugens Greene ssp. conjugens
DESERT SHOOTING STAR

Lacking rootstocks, this species is also distinguished from D. jeffreyi by a stigma that lacks a head-like structure and is less than twice as thick as the style. The filaments are more than 1 mm in length and united into a tube.

Rare at Mount Adams, this is predominantly a sagebrush species that comes up to the mountain along ridges that run to the east and southeast. J.B. Flett made a collection at Klickitat Meadows.

Dodecatheon jeffreyi Van Houtte-JEFFREY'S SHOOTING STAR

Usually growing in clumps, this herbaceous plant rises from a short rootstock and has basal leaves 15-40 cm long. They are narrowed at the base and occasionally stalkless. The flowers nod in an umbel on a 15-50 cm tall stem. The 5 rose-purple petals are sharply reflexed from the stamens and style, the lower portion being united into a short tube. The tube is white or yellow with a reddish ring at the throat, contrasting with the dark purple stamens that are pressed closely to the style. The stigma, the expanded tip of the style, is the clearest feature distinguishing this shooting star from the much less frequently seen D. conjugens.

Found in wet meadows and often near streams in middle to subalpine sites on all sides of the mountain, this showy flower is quite unmistakable and the color eye-catching. It grows at Grand Meadow, Takh Takh Meadow, and Takhlakh Lake, among other wetland sites.