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Dodecatheon hendersonii

broad-leaf shooting star, Henderson's shooting star, mosquito bills, mosquito-bill

Jeffrey's shooting star, Sierra shootingstar, tall mountain shooting star

Habit Plants (7–)10–50(–55) cm; scape glandular (at least distally) or glabrous. Plants 10–60(–75) cm; scape glandular-pubescent at least in part, not sticky.
Caudices

not obvious at anthesis;

roots usually whitish;

bulblets present or absent.

not obvious at anthesis or usually horizontal, relatively short and thick or elongate and slender;

roots usually white;

bulblets absent.

Leaves

0.5–14(–16) × (1–)1.5–6(–7) cm;

petiole slightly, if at all, winged;

blade usually oblanceolate to elliptic or spatulate, sometimes ovate to nearly rounded, base somewhat decurrent into stem, abruptly tapering to petiole, margins entire, surfaces glabrous.

(2.5–)7–40(–53) × (0.5–)1–6(–7.5) cm;

petiole winged;

blade narrowly oblanceolate or oblanceolate to spatulate, base decurrent onto stem, usually gradually tapering to petiole, margins entire or crenate to serrulate, surfaces glabrous or glandular-pubescent.

Inflorescences

2–17-flowered;

bracts narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 3–10(–15) mm, usually glabrous, sometimes glandular.

3–20-flowered;

bracts lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 3–17 mm, glandular-pubescent.

Pedicels

2–7 cm, glandular or glabrous.

2–7 cm, usually glandular-pubescent, rarely glabrous.

Flowers

calyx green or greenish with reddish or purple speckles, 5–10 mm, glandular-puberulent or glabrous, tube 1.5–3 mm, lobes 4–5, 3–8 mm;

corolla tube yellow or whitish with reddish to reddish purple, thick, wavy ring, lobes 4–5 (often on same plant), usually magenta to lavender, sometimes white, 6–25(–28) mm;

filaments connate, tube dark maroon, 1–3.5 × 1–4 mm;

anthers 2.5–6 mm;

pollen sacs usually deep red to purple or maroon, sometimes yellow and often speckled with red or maroon, connective dark maroon to black, transversely rugose (infrequently seemingly longitudinally wrinkled);

stigma not enlarged compared to style.

calyx green, 7–12(–15) mm, usually glandular-pubescent, rarely glabrous, tube 2–4 mm, lobes 4–5, 4.5–8(–12) mm;

corolla tube cream or (rarely) yellow with reddish to purplish, thin to thick, often wavy ring, ring rarely absent, lobes 4–5, magenta to lavender or light yellow to whitish, 10–25(–27) mm;

filaments distinct or partially connate, dark maroon to black, usually 1–1.5 mm;

anthers 6.5–11 mm, (apex truncate to obtuse);

pollen sacs yellow or maroon, connective purplish, transversely rugose;

stigma enlarged, diam. no more than 2 times style.

Capsules

green or greenish, sometimes speckled purple or reddish, operculate or valvate, cylindric-ovoid, 7–17(–19) × 4–7(–9) mm, glabrous or glandular-puberulent;

walls thin, pliable.

yellowish tan to reddish brown, operculate or sometimes valvate, sometimes both on same plant, ovoid, 7–11(–15) × 4.5–7(–10) mm, glabrous or teeth sometimes sparsely glandular-puberulent;

walls thin, pliable.

Seeds

without membrane along edges.

with thin membrane along edges.

2n

= 44, 66, 88, 132.

= 42, 44, 66, 86.

Dodecatheon hendersonii

Dodecatheon jeffreyi

Phenology Flowering winter–early summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Grasslands or meadow communities, or oak and conifer woodlands, often in shady places Dry to moist stream banks, lake shores, bogs, slopes, and meadows mainly in montane conifer woodlands
Elevation 0-1900(-2100) m [0-6200(-6900) ft] 0-3000 m [0-9800 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Dodecatheon hendersonii occurs from southern Vancouver Island in the coastal ranges to west-central California (as far as San Benito County) and is disjunct into the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California. To the east, the species is found on the Siskiyou Mountains and in the Sierra Nevada of California to Tulare County. A Macoun (s.n., DAO) specimen supposedly gathered at Yale, British Columbia, may be misattributed (K. I. Beamish 1955); all other known localities are from Vancouver Island.

Inasmuch as bulblets and mature capsules are rarely collected, it is difficult to clearly distinguish between var. hendersonii and var. hansenii. The former may be broadly characterized as plants bearing bulblets at anthesis with sparsely glandular scapes, pedicels, and, sometimes, calyces. The calyx of var. hendersonii is usually greenish with purple or reddish speckles. The most distinctive characteristics of this phase are a filament tube that is 1–2.5 mm wide and acute anther apices. It is found mainly along the coast from British Columbia to southern Oregon and in scattered locations in coastal California, with disjunct populations in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada, and in the mountains of southern California. Variety hansenii is glabrous, lacks bulblets, and the calyx typically is green; it usually is found inland in the Siskiyou Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and scattered populations occur in the coastal ranges of northern California. The filaments in var. hansenii are broader, being tubes 1.5–4 mm wide, and anther apices are obtuse. Capsules of var. hendersonii are usually operculate; those of var. hansenii appear to be consistently valvate. The 2n = 66 plants appear to be primarily individuals that produce little or no pollen.

Adding to the complexity is the close association of var. hansenii with Dodecatheon clevelandii var. patulum. The latter, like var. hendersonii, is basically a diploid or a tetraploid (2n = 44, 88), rather than a hexaploid, and one would expect no crossing between the two. Nonetheless, H. J. Thompson (1953) reported finding sterile individuals where D. hendersonii var. hansenii and D. clevelandii var. patulum were in close association. These sterile individuals were morphologically similar to var. hansenii (and not intermediate between the two), and sterile individuals were fairly common in populations of var. hansenii where no other Dodecatheon were present. Although the three entities may be characterized (see table 5 in Thompson), Thompson concluded that assigning names to some populations was difficult and could be established “only by a detailed consideration and summation of all the characters.”

H. J. Thompson (1953) recognized Dodecatheon hansenii; A. F. Cholewa and D. M. Henderson (1993) accepted only D. hendersonii. In their molecular study, A. R. Mast et al. (2004) considered the two entities distinct, albeit closely related, species. It is possible that var. hansenii had a hybrid origin involving var. hendersonii and D. clevelandii var. patulum, and backcrossing with var. hendersonii resulting in a series of morphological features that allies the hansenii phase more to D. hendersonii than to D. clevelandii. More study is needed, especially in areas where the two appear to have overlapping ranges in the Bay Area and Sierra Nevada foothills of California.

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

Dodecatheon jeffreyi is found in montane places in the Sierra Nevada of California and western Nevada and on the northern coastal ranges and Siskiyou Mountains of northern California and southwestern Oregon. It occurs in the Cascade Ranges of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia northward to the Kenai Peninsula region of south-central Alaska, often near the coast and especially on the off-shore islands. It is also widely scattered in the mountains of northeastern Oregon, central and northern Idaho, and western Montana, with isolated stations on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. A single collection (J. Major 2927, GTNP) from Moose Basin, Grand Teton National Park, is the only record from Wyoming.

Dodecatheon jeffreyi is usually readily recognized; in portions of California, the delimitation of it from both D. alpinum and D. redolens can be somewhat arbitrary. Whether this is a breakdown of species boundaries due to hybridization or a shift in their respective morphologies due to overlapping ecological settings is uncertain. In some instances, intermediate plants seem to occur in areas where two of the species occur in proximity. In general, the corolla tube of D. jeffreyi is white except near the ring, where it is yellow. In D. redolens, the entire corolla tube is yellow.

This species is known universally as Dodecatheon jeffreyi, although it was named a year earlier as D. jeffreyanum K. Koch. To avoid the introduction of a name that has never been used for this widespread and sometimes cultivated plant, D. jeffreyanum has been proposed for rejection (J. F. Veldkamp et al. 2008).

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 273. FNA vol. 8, p. 276.
Parent taxa Primulaceae > Dodecatheon Primulaceae > Dodecatheon
Sibling taxa
D. alpinum, D. amethystinum, D. austrofrigidum, D. clevelandii, D. conjugens, D. dentatum, D. ellisiae, D. frenchii, D. frigidum, D. jeffreyi, D. meadia, D. poeticum, D. pulchellum, D. redolens, D. subalpinum, D. utahense
D. alpinum, D. amethystinum, D. austrofrigidum, D. clevelandii, D. conjugens, D. dentatum, D. ellisiae, D. frenchii, D. frigidum, D. hendersonii, D. meadia, D. poeticum, D. pulchellum, D. redolens, D. subalpinum, D. utahense
Synonyms D. hansenii, D. hendersonii subsp. cruciatum, D. hendersonii var. hansenii, D. hendersonii subsp. parvifolium, Primula hendersonii D. jeffreyi subsp. pygmaeum, Primula jeffreyi
Name authority A. Gray: Bot. Gaz. 11: 233. 1886 (as hendersoni) , Van Houtte: Ann. Gén. Hort. 16: 99, plate 1662. 1867 ,
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