SHOOTING-STAR 



Flowers. — White, solitary, star-like, on slender, wiry- 

 stems, above a whorl of leaves. 



Calyx. — Sepals, five to nine-parted, usually seven-parted; 

 divisions narrow, pointed. 



Corolla. — Wheel-shaped, half an inch across, deeply cut 

 into seven spreading segments. 



Stamens. — Six to seven, with long, delicate filaments and 

 small golden anthers. 



Pistil. — One; style and stigma one. 



These small, white Star-Flowers, poised above a whorl 

 of leaves, dance in the wind with a charming lightness 

 and grace. They produce no nectar, only pollen re- 

 wards their insect visitors. They possess one ex- 

 tremely interesting characteristic, the parts of the 

 flower tend to appear in sevens — a very unusual thing. 

 As a rule, floral parts appear in fives or threes or mul- 

 tiples of fives and threes, rarely in sevens. 



SHOOTING-STAR 



Dodecdtheon Meadia 



♦ 



Dodecdtheon, from dodeka, twelve, and theoi, gods; the 

 twelve gods, a name given by Pliny to the Primrose, 

 which was believed to be under the protection of the 

 superior gods. 



Perennial. A plant of cliffs, open woodlands and 

 prairies. Pennsylvania to Manitoba, Georgia, California. 

 Absent from northern Ohio, but reported from middle and 

 southern Ohio. April, May. 



Root. — Fibrous. 



Leaves. — All basal, oblong or spatulate, three to twelve 

 inches long, narrowed into petioles. 



183 



