PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulaceae. 
and usually with six, white or pinkish petals, sometimes 
deep pink, or flecked with lilac outside. The ovary makes 
a purplish dot in the center, surrounded by curling, yellow 
anthers, with threadlike filaments united at base. The 
capsule contains a few, rather large, white seeds. We often 
find these dainty little plants growing in companies, their 
starry blossoms glimmering in the shade, prettily set off 
by their neat circle of leaves. 
There are a good many kinds of Dodecatheon, of North 
America and Asia; perennials, with root-leaves; flowers in 
bracted, terminal clusters; calyx with four or five lobes, 
turned back in flower but erect in fruit; corolla with four or 
five, long lobes, turned strongly back over the short tube 
and thick throat; stamens of the same number as the lobes, 
‘the anthers pointing straight forward, inserted on the 
throat of the corolla, filaments short, flat and united, or 
lacking; style long; capsule containing many seeds. The 
Greek name, meaning ‘‘twelve gods,’’ seems far-fetched, 
but Linnaeus fancied the cluster of flowers resembled a 
little assembly of divinities. Common names are Prairie 
Pointers, Mosquito-bills, Wild Cyclamen, and American 
Cowslip, the latter poor, because misleading. 
A very decorative plant, with a smooth, 
Large Shooting- stout, reddish stem, five to eighteen inches 
star 
Dadewathicon tall, very slightly hairy towards the top, 
Jéffreyi springing from a cluster of root-leaves, 
Pink five to eighteen inches long, smooth, 
Summer . . 7 
Cal. Gece, sometimes slightly toothed, and bearing a 
cluster of from five to fifteen beautiful 
flowers. The corolla is usually an inch or more long, 
usually with four petals, purplish-pink, paler at the base, 
with a yellow and maroon ring and maroon “‘bill.”” This 
has a faint, oddly sweet scent and grows in wet, mountain 
meadows. I found a very beautiful white form at Lost 
Lake, in Yosemite, more delicate, with lighter green foliage 
and pure white corollas, ringed with yellow and maroon. 
Not so handsome as the last, but very 
Shooting-sta : - i i 
ooting-star attractive, with a slightly roughish stem, 
Dodecdtheon 
Clévelandi twelve to sixteen inches tall, bearing a 
White fine crown of flowers and springing from a 
Seana cluster of smooth, slightly thickish leaves, 
California 
paler on the under side, with a few teeth. 
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