Few-flowered shootingstar, darkthroat shootingstar, pretty shootingstar • Dodecatheon pulchellum
Few flowered shootingstars growing in coastal bluffs, photographed by Gillian Harvey (bottom left) and Rebecca Segal. Note the wavy reddish-purple line on the yellow collar, and compare this to a close-up of a tall mountain shootingstar flower.
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Identification
Few-flowered shootingstar is a flowering perennial that grows 5-50 cm tall. Its leaves are all basal, are oblong to spoon-shaped, and can be up to 20 cm long. Bright pink to lavender flowers form clusters of 1-25 at the top of the stem. The flowers are nodding, with petals swept back towards the stem like the trailing tail of a comet — hence the name 'shootingstar'. The "comet" in this case is a yellowish collar edged with a wavy purplish line, followed by a yellow-orange tube with a fine point — which is the reproductive part of the flower. There are three variants of this species present in BC, and while there is morphological variation between the three, much of the observed variation is due to environmental differences. The variant present on the BC coast is D. pulchellum var. macrocarpum.
Habitat & Range
Few-flowered shootingstar is found in meadow habitats, including salt marshes or other saline meadows, coastal rocks and bluffs, and streambanks. It is found from sea level to alpine elevations, though it is more common at lower elevations at the north of its range. This flowering species is found in the western half of North America, ranging as far east as Nebraska and Manitoba, north to Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and south to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Similar Species
Many shootingstar species look quite similar, including the broad-leaved shootingstar (Dodecatheon hendersonii) and tall mountain shootingstar (Dodecatheon jeffreyi) - however of these two only D. jeffreyi is found on the Central Coast. It has lance shaped leaves with pointed tips, versus the rounded ends of few-flowered shootingstar. D. jeffreyi flowers lack the yellowish ring at the base of the petals, and instead have an all-white tube.
Broad-leaved shootingstar has a darker tube at the base of the petals, a deep purple-red instead of the yellow-orange of the few-flowered shootingstar. The leaves are also broader, triangle to egg-shaped, instead of oblong and spoon-shaped. It grows in rainshadow areas from the south coast of BC to California.
Human Uses
Some of the interior First Nations traditionally used this plant as a medicine, including the Okanagan-Colville and Blackfoot. The roots were used to make an infusion to wash sore eyes, infusions of the leaves were used as eye drops and was also gargled, especially by children with cankers.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/498086-Primula-pauciflora
Few-flowered shootingstar is a flowering perennial that grows 5-50 cm tall. Its leaves are all basal, are oblong to spoon-shaped, and can be up to 20 cm long. Bright pink to lavender flowers form clusters of 1-25 at the top of the stem. The flowers are nodding, with petals swept back towards the stem like the trailing tail of a comet — hence the name 'shootingstar'. The "comet" in this case is a yellowish collar edged with a wavy purplish line, followed by a yellow-orange tube with a fine point — which is the reproductive part of the flower. There are three variants of this species present in BC, and while there is morphological variation between the three, much of the observed variation is due to environmental differences. The variant present on the BC coast is D. pulchellum var. macrocarpum.
Habitat & Range
Few-flowered shootingstar is found in meadow habitats, including salt marshes or other saline meadows, coastal rocks and bluffs, and streambanks. It is found from sea level to alpine elevations, though it is more common at lower elevations at the north of its range. This flowering species is found in the western half of North America, ranging as far east as Nebraska and Manitoba, north to Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and south to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Similar Species
Many shootingstar species look quite similar, including the broad-leaved shootingstar (Dodecatheon hendersonii) and tall mountain shootingstar (Dodecatheon jeffreyi) - however of these two only D. jeffreyi is found on the Central Coast. It has lance shaped leaves with pointed tips, versus the rounded ends of few-flowered shootingstar. D. jeffreyi flowers lack the yellowish ring at the base of the petals, and instead have an all-white tube.
Broad-leaved shootingstar has a darker tube at the base of the petals, a deep purple-red instead of the yellow-orange of the few-flowered shootingstar. The leaves are also broader, triangle to egg-shaped, instead of oblong and spoon-shaped. It grows in rainshadow areas from the south coast of BC to California.
Human Uses
Some of the interior First Nations traditionally used this plant as a medicine, including the Okanagan-Colville and Blackfoot. The roots were used to make an infusion to wash sore eyes, infusions of the leaves were used as eye drops and was also gargled, especially by children with cankers.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/498086-Primula-pauciflora
References
Dodecatheon pulchellum (Raf.) Merr. darkthroat shootingstar; few-flowered shootingstar; pretty shootingstar. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed on 14/04/2013.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (2005). Plants of Coastal British Columbia, Revised. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 342.
Authors and editors of page
Chanda Brietzke, Ian Cruickshank, and Brian Starzomski (2013).
Dodecatheon pulchellum (Raf.) Merr. darkthroat shootingstar; few-flowered shootingstar; pretty shootingstar. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed on 14/04/2013.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (2005). Plants of Coastal British Columbia, Revised. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 342.
Authors and editors of page
Chanda Brietzke, Ian Cruickshank, and Brian Starzomski (2013).