General:
Perennial herb from a horizontal rhizome, the roots brownish; stems erect, solitary, simple, 5-40 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves spade-shaped to elliptic or egg-shaped, usually less than twice as long as wide, 2-15 cm long, irregularly round-toothed to almost entire, commonly rounded or squared-off at the bases, abruptly narrowed to distinct, winged stalks nearly the same length as the blades; stem leaves lacking.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a compact, terminal, involucrate umbel of 2 to 7 glandular, stalked flowers, floral parts in 5's, the stalks 0.5-4.5 (5) mm long; corollas magenta to lavender, deeply lobed, the lobes 8-15 mm long, bent back; calyces lobed, the lobes 2.5-3.5 mm long, the tubes 1.5-2.5 mm long; filaments deep purple-red, less than 1 mm, sometimes 1.5 mm long, free or shallowly united; anthers 4-5 mm long, the connective tissue black and smooth; stigmas not conspicuously enlarged, less than twice as wide as the styles; corollas and stamens deciduous as capsules mature.
Fruits:
Capsules, 7-12 mm long, cylindrical, the tips coming off like lids.
Stems:
Scapes glandular-puberulent, 5-30 (40) cm tall.
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
Elevation
(metres) |
1659 | 1415 | 1985 |
Slope
Gradient (%) |
19 | 1 | 50 |
Aspect (degrees) |
286 | 5 | 355 |
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: |
23 | ||
Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BAFA | ||
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BAFA(18), SWB(5) | ||
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Dodecatheon frigidum Cham. & Schltdl.
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 |
This Beringian species is the only species of Dodecatheon in northern parts of the province, and does not overlap in distribution with any other members of the genus in B.C. It is also the only Dodecatheon species that occurs outside of North America, where it is known from several areas of northeastern Siberia. The short, horizontal, slightly woody rhizome is unlike any other member of the genus.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman |