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.
[Sidenote: =Large Shooting-star=
_Dodecàtheon Jéffreyi_
=Pink
Summer
Cal., Oreg.=]
A very decorative plant, with a smooth, stout, reddish stem, five to
eighteen inches tall, very slightly hairy towards the top, springing
from a cluster of root-leaves, five to eighteen inches long, smooth,
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.
[Sidenote: =Shooting-star=
_Dodecàtheon Clèvelandi_
=White
Spring
California=]
Not so handsome as the last, but very attractive, with a slightly
roughish stem, twelve to sixteen inches tall, bearing a fine crown
of flowers and springing from a cluster of smooth, slightly thickish
leaves, paler on the under side, with a few teeth. The sepals are
slightly downy and the corollas are about three-quarters of an inch
long, with pure-white petals, sometimes lilac-tinged, yellow at base,
with a ring of maroon scallops and a dark purple "bill." The flowers
are deliciously fragrant, like Clove Pinks. This grows in the south.
[Illustration: Large Shooting Star--Dodecatheon Jeffreyi.