Dodecatheon conjugens (Mountain Shooting Star) - photos and description
White
form shown above, have seen the white-flowered form a handful of times
Leaves with very small hairs on margin
Origin: Native.
General: Short plants with leafless, erect stems.
Flowers: Flowers in small umbels, are showy, purple-pink in colour with reflexed petals. Petals measured between 1.5 cm and 2 cm in length.
Leaves: Leaves are all in a basal rosette, obovate to oblanceolate, we measured a leaf at 5 cm long and 2 cm wide. The leaves with small hairs on margins and pubescent on bottom and top.
Height: Height listed in Flora of Alberta to 20 cm, we measured plants to 14.5 cm tall.
Habitat: Hillsides and meadows throughout the Cypress Hills.
Abundance: Rare provincially, ranked with an S3 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
How to identify this species of Dodecatheon: Distinguished from the other Shooting Star native to our province
(Dodecatheon pulchellum) by:
1) Petals greater than or equal to 1.5 cm in length for D.
conjugens vs. petals less than or equal to 1.5 cm for D.
pulchellum (from Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan
Plants).
2) Leaves hairy for D. conjugens, vs. leaves glabrous for D. pulchellum.
3) May bloom time for D. conjugens vs. June bloom time
for D. pulchellum, but I've photographed both plants blooming
in May.
When and where photographed: Photos taken May 8th, May 11th, and May 23rd, Cypress Hills, 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.