The Shooting Star 
A VERY COMMON HERBACEOUS PLANT THAT IS NOT SO WELL KNOWN AS IT 
DESERVES TO BE—A WAY TO OVERCOME ITS ONE FAULT OF UNTIDY FOLIAGE 
(123) 
T HERE is a very common flower known as 
the Shooting Star and also as the American 
cowslip, which has never achieved the high 
place in popular favor that it really deserves. 
It has a high-sounding Latin name, Dodecatheon 
meadia, of which the first part means twelve 
gods, from the arrangement of the twelve or more 
individual flowers forming the umbel. 
Once seen, the Shooting Star will never be 
forgotten, for its stamens come to a sharp point 
and hang downward, while the petals stream 
behind, like the tail of a comet. The plant 
belongs to the primrose or cowslip family, and 
is well known in England as the American cow¬ 
slip. The flowers suggest a diminutive cyclamen 
and represent every shade from pure white 
through lilac and rose to purple, and they all 
have a yellow circle in the middle, that is, at the 
mouth of the corolla. The umbel, or group of 
flowers, is held high above the foliage on a stiff 
leafless stem. They last very much longer when 
grown in partial shade, when they may be de¬ 
pended upon to remain in good condition from 
two to three weeks. 
The fact that the Shooting Star is found 
in the open prairies, upon railroad banks, and in 
such unpromising places, is a good word for its 
vigor and strength. I recently found a few on the upper edge of a 
wide ravine on my own grounds, where they had sown them¬ 
selves. I have taken 
the hint and planted 
a colony of a hundred 
plants near there. 
The absence of tree 
foliage overhead in 
the early spring, 
when these plants 
appear above ground 
and bloom, secures 
to them the amount 
of sun they need. 
The rather untidy 
appearance of their 
dying foliage — for 
all the plant that is 
above ground dis¬ 
appears after bloom¬ 
ing—is hidden by 
the surrounding 
vegetation. The 
flowers are extreme¬ 
ly stately and im¬ 
posing in mass, but 
if grouped in the 
ordinary garden bor¬ 
der would, when 
their foliage disap¬ 
pears, leave a bare 
space that would be 
a serious objection to their use, if it could not 
be readily overcome. As the illustration at the 
bottom of this page shows, the Shooting Star 
may be set in between plants of the Campanula 
carpatica, which have a habit of spreading well 
over the ground. These are set about fifteen 
inches apart and the Shooting Stars between 
them. The campanulas are rather late in starting 
up in the spring, so that there is at that time 
plenty of room for the Shooting Stars until 
their foliage withers; then the campanulas throw 
a mantle of green over their departing neighbors 
and hide their untidiness. The campanulas, with 
their white and blue bells, occupy the ground 
until frost. 
Sometimes 1 plant Lilium superbum, or 
L. Canadense, with the Shooting Stars and they, 
of course, bloom much later and are most effective 
towering above the campanulas. Their habit of 
renewing their bulbs in a lateral direction causes 
them to get beyond bounds and necessitates 
replanting every three years. 
The former, Lilium superbum, is one of the 
stateliest lilhs that grows, and is another thing 
that is not used enough in our home gardens. 
While preferring a rich and rather moist soil, 
it will grow almost anywhere if the soil around 
its roots is shaded. I have these lilies growing on a bank in a 
wild planting of low-growing shrubs, where they tower above 
the latter and make 
a splendid showing. 
To digress a bit from 
the Shooting Star, 
these lilies do well 
when planted among 
the bulbous class of 
Iris, like Iris Sibi- 
rica, Iris orientalis 
or the Japanese Iris, 
and also among peo¬ 
nies. The foliage of 
these plants affords 
the shade which 
is necessarily re¬ 
quired at the roots 
of the lilies. 
Dodecatheon i s 
an exceedingly puz¬ 
zling genus to the 
botanists. It is 
found from Maine 
to Texas and from 
the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, but in this 
vast region it varies 
immensely. Strange¬ 
ly enough, the best 
varieties come from 
Europe. 
Plant the Shooting Star among campanulas to conceal the dying foliage 
