498 



DODECATHEON 



DODECATHEON 



after flowering and do not appear again until the next 

 spring. Shooting Stars are said to be easily forced. The 

 best varieties at present are obtained from Europe. 



The genus Dodecatheon is much confused : that is, 

 it is differently understood by different authors. In 

 the Synoptical Flora, 1878, Gray accepted but one spe- 

 cies, D. Meadia, and referred all the known forms to 



730. Shooting Star Dodecatheon pauciflorum (X%). 



six varieties of it. Later (Botanical Gazette 11:231) he 

 revised his view of the genus, and recognized five spe- 

 cies. A synopsis of this latter view is here given, and 

 it is followed by a conspectus of the latest view of the 

 genus by Professor Greene. Various garden names are 

 not accounted for in either sketch, nor is it possible to 

 refer them to their proper places without studying the 

 plants themselves ; and these forms are Old World pro- 

 ductions, and are not known to be in the American trade. 



A. Anthers on evident filaments, the latter being in- 

 serted at the very orifice of the short corolla-tube 

 and distinctly monadelphous : Ivs. with taperina 

 base. 

 B. Capsule acute, opening at the apex by valves. 



Meadia, Linn. COMMON or EASTERN SHOOTING STAR. 

 Roots fibrous : Ivs. 3-9 in. long, crowded on a thickish 

 crown, spatulate oblong or oblanceolate, entire or nearly 

 so, sometimes repand obtuse, below tapering into more 

 or less of a margined petiole: scape 9-24 in. high: fls. 

 few to many in an umbel. Penna. south and west. D. 

 integrifolium, Michx. (B.M. 3622) is regarded by Gray as 

 probably synonymous, but in European horticulture it 

 seems to be loosely used to distinguish an entire-lvd. 

 from a dentate form. 



BB. Capsule obtuse, opening at or from the apex by 

 valves. 



J6ffreyi, Moore. Large : Ivs. from narrowly or elon- 

 gated to obovate-spatulate: capsule oblong or cylindri- 

 cal, usually much surpassing the calyx. Pacific .coast. 

 F.S. 16:1662, which represents a strong plant with erect 

 root-lvs. 1 ft. long, and purplish red fls. twice as large 

 as any cultivated before 1865-7. The name is sometimes 

 spelled Jeffrayi and Jeffreyanum. To this species, 

 Gray provisionally referred his vars. alplnum and 

 frigidum. The former appears to be the D. alpinum, 

 Hort. 



ellipticum, Nutt. (D. Meadia, var. brevifdlium, Gray). 

 Distinguished by its globular or short-ovoid capsule, 

 barely equaling or slightly surpassing the calyx ; also 

 by the short and blunt anthers : Ivs. short, obovate or 

 oval, with cuneate base. Cal. and north. 



BBB. Capsule obtttse, thin, more or less cylindrical^ 

 surpassing the calyx, dehiscent by a circum- 

 scission of the apex. 



Henderson!, Gray. About a foot high : Ivs. small, obo- 

 vate: fls. like those of D. ellipticum. Idaho to Calif, 

 and north. 



AA. Anthers seemingly sessile, the very short filaments 



inserted below the orifice of the corolla. 

 frigidum, Cham. & Schlecht. (D. Meadia, var. 

 frigidum, Gray). Lvs. obovate to oblong, very ob- 

 tuse, mostly entire : calyx-lobes longer than the tube : 

 capsule oblong. Behring straits to Rockies and Sierras. 

 B.M. 5871. 



Var. dentatum, Gray (D. dentdtum, Hook. D. Meadia, 

 var. latilobum, Gray). Larger: Ivs. with blade 1-4 in. 

 long, oval or ovate to oblong, repand or sparingly den- 

 tate, abruptly contracted into long winged petioles. 

 Utah, west and north. 



Following are mostly Old World horticultural forms : 

 D. Lemoinei, Hort. Said to be a hybrid between D. integri- 

 folium and D. Jeffreyi, and intermediate in character. D. 

 Lemoinei, var. robustum, is like D. integrifolium, but more ro- 

 bust and erect, with larger fls., which are purplish rose, circled 

 with white. D. maximum, Hort. Fls. rose. D. Meadia, var. 

 elegans, Hort. Lvs. wider and shorter : scape shorter : fls. 

 more numerous, dark colored. D. Meadia, var. giganteum, 

 Hort. Much larger than the type in all its parts: Ivs. paler: fls. 

 a little earlier. There is a white-fld. variety of it. D. Meadia. 

 var. splendidum, Hort. Fls. 4-10, crimson, with a yellow circle, 

 D. tetrdndrum, Suksdorf, has the general aspect of D. Jef- 

 freyi, but the lys. are ampler and relatively broader. Roots, 

 as in D. Jeffreyi, are abundant, fleshy-fibrous, persistent: roots, 

 Ivs. and scapes form a short, vertical crown : whole plant 

 glabrous : corolla purplish, with a yellow ring near the base; 

 segments and stamens usually only 4: capsule circumscissile 

 very near the apex. Mountains, apparently throughout east- 

 ern Washington and Oregon. Quite distinct from D. Jeffreyi, 

 though it is the nearest ally of that species; but it belongs to 

 another tract of country. Fully described by E. L. Greene in 

 Erythea, 3:40 (1895). Introduced to cultivation in the east by 

 F. H. Horsford in 1899. ^ ]yj 



ANOTHER VIEW OF DODECATHEON. The species fall 

 into two well-marked groups : lowland species, which 

 flower in winter and rest during the long, dry summer; 

 and subalpine species, whicb rest in winter and flower 

 in the subalpine spring of July and August. Species of 

 the lowland group propagate by bulblets formed on the 

 crown of the root. In the following notes, only some of 

 the leading species of different regions are taken up. 

 They are not all in commerce. 



A. Lvs., roots and scapes from a short, vertical crown. 



B. Anthers long, sharp, convergent; capsules valvately 



opening from the top. 



Meadia, Linn. Lvs. oblanceolate or spatulate-oblong, 

 6-9 in. long, toothed more or less irregularly, of a light 

 green: fls. from deep lilac-purple to pinkish. Ranges 

 from Maine to perhaps Texas, east of the mountains. 

 The Allegheny mountain plant is entire-leaved, and is the 

 D. integrifolium of Michx. 



crenatum, Raf. Stouter, and of more fleshy texture 

 than the last ; foliage deep green, crenate rather than 

 dentate: fls. more numerous in the umbels, equally va- 

 riable in color. Inhabits either low prairies or moist 

 woodland borders of the upper Mississippi prairie 

 region. 



cordatum, Raf. Very light green, thin foliage, each 

 leaf made up of broad, subcordate, crenate blade and 

 distinct though broad petiole twice the length of the 

 blade : fls. very few in the umbel, pale pink or white, 

 but with very dark purple ring at base. Cult, at Phila- 

 delphia early in the nineteenth century, and named and 

 described by Rafinesque, the habitat not then known, 

 but it is now known to inhabit the limestone region of 

 southern Illinois and adjacent Missouri, along with a 

 few other equally rare and local plants. A most distinct 

 species by its foliage. 

 BB. Anthers obtuse, forming a column (not convergent). 



C. Capsules opening valvately : alpine species, or at 



least subalpine, blooming in summer, resting in 

 winter. 



paucifldrum, Greene. Fig. 730. Variable in size, 6-18 in. 

 high, but slender: hairs oblanceolate, entire, suberect, 



