Dodecatheon jeffreyi

Jeffrey's Shooting Star

Jeffrey's Shooting Star
aka Tall Mountain Shootingstar. The spectacular pink to rose-purple flowers are in an umbrel on a leafless stem which is 6″ – 24″ (15 – 50 cm) tall. The flower’s five petals (occasionally four) are united into a short tube with a white or yellow band at the base. The five (rarely four) dark purple stamens pressed together form a dark ‘nose’ that hangs down. Common in wet meadows, along streambanks and lakeshores, even growing from shallow water. Usually best seen above 5,000′ elevation.

Family:

Primulaceae - PRIMROSE FAMILY

Genus:

Dodecatheon from Greek dodeka 'twelve' and theoi 'gods'

Species:

jeffreyi after John Jeffrey, Edinburgh Botanical Gardens gardener
Photo location: Shore of Dick’s Lake in the Palisades, meadow along Grand Park Trail south of Lake Eleanor and in a small stream along the WLT above Berkeley Park.