Jeffrey's Shooting Star (Sierrra shootingstar; tall mountain shootingstar)
Primulaceae
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Plants fibrous-rooted; roots whitish; bulblets absent.
Leaves:
Leaves narrowly oblanceolate to spatulate, base tapering gradually to the short broadly-winged petiole, entire (rarely slightly toothed), glandular-pubescent (rarely glabrous), 7-40 (53) cm.
Flowers:
Inflorescences of 3-20 flowers; involucral bracts lanceolate, glandular-pubescent, 3-17 mm. Flowers long-stalked; corolla tube whitish (rarely yellow), usually with a thin to thick, red, wavy ring around the throat; corolla lobes pink to magenta (rarely whitish or yellowish), 10-25 (27) mm; calyces green, usually glandular-puberulent, (rarely glabrous), 7-12 (15) mm; pollen sacs yellow to reddish-purple; filaments distinct or partially connate, dark reddish-purple to black; connective purplish, transversely rugose; stigma greatly enlarged and knob-like; pedicels 2-7 cm, usually glandular-pubescent (rarely glabrous). Flowering May-Jul (to Aug at high elevations).
Fruits:
Capsules tan to reddish-brown, ovoid, glabrous or sometimes sparsely glandular-puberulent, circumcissile or sometimes 5-valvate, 7-11 (15) mm.
Stems:
Scapes glandular-pubescent, 10-69 (75) cm.
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) |
465 | 2 | 1378 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
20 | 0 | 88 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
351 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
5 | 1 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
66 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CWH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(1), CMA(4), CWH(38), ESSF(1), MH(22) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Wet to moist meadows, streambanks, shorelines, fens, and bogs in the lowland, montane, and subalpine zones. Frequent in coastal BC; AK south to CA, ID, MT.Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014.
Author: Jamie Fenneman
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 is the only species of Dodecatheon to occur regularly in coastal bogs, where it often grows at the edges of pools or slowly flowing streams. Although some other members of the genus may show a slight thickening of the stigma relative to the style, only in D. jeffreyi is the stigma greatly enlarged and knob-like. D. jeffreyi often grows alongside D. pulchellum var. macrocarpum, from which it can be easily distinguished by its wholly blackish or blackish-purple filaments and anthers and its usually whitish corolla throat (filaments yellowish, anthers variably blackish-purple to yellowish or whitish, and corolla throat usually yellowish in D. pulchellum). It is further distinguished from D. pulchellum var. macrocarpum by its usually glandular (vs. glabrous) upper scape, pedicels, and calyces.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia draft 2014 |