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French's shootingstar

Habit Plants 20–40(–60) cm; scape glabrous, rarely glandular-pubescent.
Caudices

not obvious at anthesis;

roots white;

bulblets absent.

Leaves

10–30 × 4–8(–10) cm;

petiole slender (at least basally);

blade (not suffused with red at base), spatulate to ovate or broadly oval, base slightly decurrent onto stem, abruptly tapering to petiole, margins usually entire, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely minutely glandular.

Inflorescences

2–15-flowered;

bracts lanceolate, 3–10 mm, glabrous, rarely glandular-pubescent.

Pedicels

1–5 cm, usually glabrous, rarely glandular-pubescent.

Flowers

calyx light green, 3–8 mm, glabrous, tube 2–2.5 mm, lobes 5, 3–6 mm;

corolla tube maroon and yellow with maroon, thin, wavy ring, lobes 5, white, sometimes pale rose or lavender to (rarely) magenta, 10–20 mm;

filaments distinct and 0.8–1.2 mm or connate and tube yellow, 0.8–1.2 × 1.2–1.8 mm;

anthers 5–7.5 mm;

pollen sacs yellow, rarely speckled with red or maroon, connective purple, dark maroon, or black, smooth;

stigma not enlarged compared to style.

Capsules

reddish brown, valvate, cylindric-ovoid, 6–10 × 3.5–5 mm, glabrous;

walls thick, firm.

Seeds

without membrane along edges.

2n

= 44.

Dodecatheon frenchii

Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Moist, shaded flats under sandstone cliffs and overhanging ledges along or near streams
Elevation 100-300 m (300-1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; IL; IN; KY; MO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Dodecatheon frenchii is relatively rare throughout its restricted range in southern Illinois (Jackson, Johnson, Pope, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties), southern Indiana (Crawford and Perry counties), and western Kentucky (Breckinridge, Carter, Crittenden, Edmonson, Hardin, Menifee, Todd, Union, and Warren counties), with additional outlying populations in Colbert County, Alabama, Cleburne and Newton counties, Arkansas, and at Hickory Canyons Natural Area in Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri. The mature leaves nearly always have a distinctive cordate base.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 285.
Parent taxa Primulaceae > Dodecatheon
Sibling taxa
D. alpinum, D. amethystinum, D. austrofrigidum, D. clevelandii, D. conjugens, D. dentatum, D. ellisiae, D. frigidum, D. hendersonii, D. jeffreyi, D. meadia, D. poeticum, D. pulchellum, D. redolens, D. subalpinum, D. utahense
Synonyms D. meadia var. frenchii, D. meadia subsp. membranaceum, Primula frenchii
Name authority (Vasey) Rydberg: Fl. Plains N. Amer., 626. 1932 ,
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