White Shooting Star (dentate shootingstar; White or Dentate Shootingstar; white shootingstar)
Primulaceae
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Plants fibrous-rooted or with very short rhizome; roots white or reddish; bulblets absent.
Leaves:
Leaves broadly ovate, apex acute, base cordate or abruptly rounded, wavy to coarsely toothed, glabrous, long-petiolate, 3-10 cm; petiole slender, narrowly winged, equalling or exceeding the blade.
Flowers:
Inflorescences of 2-5 (12) flowers; involucral bracts lanceolate, 1.5-5 mm long. Flowers long-stalked; corolla tube and throat yellow, with a fine, wavy, reddish ring around the throat; corolla lobes white to creamy-white, 7-18 (20) mm; calyces green, glabrous, 4-6 mm; filaments and pollen sacs dark reddish-purple to blackish, filaments distinct to their base; connective smooth or with longitudinal wrinkles; stigma not enlarged relative to the style; pedicels glabrous, 0.8-5 cm. Flowering Jun-Jul.
Fruits:
Capsules greenish to tan, narrowly ovoid, glabrous, 5-valvate, (6) 8-11 mm, with withered, persistent corolla lobes and filaments at the base.
Stems:
Scapes glabrous, 15-40 (50) cm tall. Leaves broadly ovate, apex acute, base cordate or abruptly rounded, wavy to coarsely toothed, glabrous, long-petiolate, 3-10 cm; petiole slender, narrowly winged, equalling or exceeding the blade.
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) |
1412 | 740 | 2235 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
14 | 0 | 58 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
180 | 14 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
4 | 2 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
11 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
At(1), IDF(4), MS(4) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to wet streambanks, meadows, cliff faces, open forests, and shady slopes in the montane and subalpine zones. Infrequent in sc BC (Manning P.P. east to the Okanagan Valley); south to OR, ID.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
D. dentatum hybridizes with D. pulchellum var. pulchellum in Idaho but, as the distributions of the two species do not appear to overlap in B.C., it is unlikely that such a hybrid combination would be expected in the province. This is the only Dodecatheon species with consistently white flowers, although white-flowered individuals occasionally occur in other normally pink-flowered Dodecatheon; see the genus key for characteristics distinguishing these plants from true D. dentatum.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman |