Henderson's Shooting Star (broad-leaved shootingstar; mosquito bills; Slimpod)
Primulaceae
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Plants fibrous-rooted; roots usually whitish; small rice-like bulblets present at base of plant.
Leaves:
Leaves ovate to nearly rounded (sometimes oblanceolate), tapering abruptly to the narrowly winged petiole, entire, glabrous, 3-14 cm.
Flowers:
Inflorescences of 2-17 flowers; involucral bracts lanceolate, usually glabrous, 3-15 mm. Flowers long-stalked; corolla tube and throat yellow or whitish with a thick, red, wavy ring around the throat; corolla lobes pink to lavender (rarely white), 6-25 (28) mm; pollen sacs dark red or reddish-purple (sometimes yellow or yellow with dark speckles); calyces green, purple-speckled, glabrous or glandular-puberulent, 5-10 mm; filaments connate, dark reddish-purple; connective dark reddish-purple to blackish, transversely rugose; stigma not enlarged relative the style; pedicels 2-7 cm long, glabrous or glandular. Flowering Mar-May.
Fruits:
Capsules green to reddish or purplish, cylindrical, glabrous or glandular-puberulent, circumcissile or 5-valvate, 7-17 (19) mm.
Stems:
Scapes 15-30 (50) cm tall, glabrous to distally glandular.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014.
Author: Jamie Fenneman
Ecology
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
148 | 31 | 315 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 84 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
164 | 23 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
1 | 1 | 3 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
48 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CDF(31) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry meadows, Garry Oak woodlands, open coniferous forests, and rock outcrops in the lowland zone. Locally common in extreme sw BC (s Vancouver I., Gulf Is.); south to CA.Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014.
Author: Jamie Fenneman
Status Information
Taxonomic Keys
Key to Dodecatheon
1a. Corollas white or creamy-white.……………………………………………………………………..........2 2a. Leaves long-petiolate with a narrowly-winged petiole; leaf blade coarsely-toothed, ovate, cordate or abruptly rounded at the base; corollas and stamens persistent, withered and retained around the base of the capsule…..........................…..................D. dentatum 2b. Leaves subsessile to short-petiolate with a broadly winged petiole; leaf blade entire, oblong or oblanceolate to lanceolate, with a tapering (gradually or abruptly) base; corollas and stamens deciduous, not retained with the capsule…………………..……………………………………………[white-flowered variant of pink-flowered species] 1b. Corollas pink……………………………………………………………………………....3 3a. Stigmas greatly enlarged and knob-like………………………………….………………………………D. jeffreyi 3b. Stigmas not or barely knob-like, not strongly differentiated from the styles………………..........................................………..4 4a. Connective transversely rugose………………………………..…………...…………………………5 5a. Filaments usually yellow (sometimes flecked with purple or wholly purplish), usually separate to their bases, rarely slightly connate; leaf blades lanceolate to oblanceolate or narrowly ovate, usually more than 3 times as long as wide, base of blade tapering gradually to abruptly to the short, broadly winged petiole; plants of se BC……………..........................................D. conjugens 5b. Filaments deep reddish-purple, fully connate; leaf blades broadly ovate to slightly triangular, 1.5-2 times as long as wide, base abruptly tapered or rounded to distinct petiole; plants of extreme sw BC………………..………D. hendersonii 4b. Connective smooth or with longitudinal wrinkles……………..………………………………………………………….….6 6a. Filaments dark reddish-purple; leaves elliptic to oblong or ovate, blades usually less than 2 times as long as wide, base of blade tapering apruptly to distinct petiole; rhizomes usually horizontal, often slightly woody; plants of n BC…………..… ………………………D. frigidum 6b. Filaments yellow (rarely purplish); leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate, blades more than 3 times as long as wide, gradually tapering to the short, broadly-winged petiole; rhizomes short and vertical, not woody; plants of coastal and s BC………………………………..……………………………………D. pulchellum
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014 |
Taxonomic Notes
This species, with its flattened rosettes of broadly ovate leaves and rice-like bulblets at the base of the plant, is easily identified within its very limited provincial distribution. It commonly occurs within the forest understory in dry or mesic upland habitats, which is unlike other co-occurring species of Dodecatheon (other species are largely restricted to meadows, estuaries, and other open, moist habitats). D. hendersonii var. hendersonii is a major component of the spectacular early spring wildflower bloom within its range, blooming in abundance alongside species such as Lomatium utriculatum, Erythronium oregonum ssp. oregonum, and a variety of Claytonia species. Where the two species occur together on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, D. hendersonii typically blooms several weeks earlier than D. pulchellum var. macrocarpum.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columba, draft 2014 |