Dodecatheon

Dodecatheon is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. The species have basal clumps of leaves and nodding flowers that are produced at the top of tall stems rising from where the leaves join the crown. The genus is largely confined to North America and part of northeastern Siberia. Common names include shooting star, American cowslip, mosquito bills, mad violets,[1] and sailor caps. A few species are grown in gardens for their showy and unique flower display.

This article is about the genus of plants. For the ancient Greek gods, see Twelve Olympians.

Dodecatheon
Dodecatheon pulchellum (Fidalgo Island, Washington)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Primulaceae
Subfamily: Primuloideae
Genus: Dodecatheon
L.
Species

See text

The stamens are thrust out with the sepals bent back. The flowers are pollinated by bees, which grab hold of the petals, and gather pollen by vibrating the flowers by buzzing their wings (buzz pollination). The vibration releases pollen from the anthers.

Classification
Dodecatheon jeffreyi (Henry M. Jackson Wilderness, Washington)

Dodecatheon is related to the genus Primula (primroses and related plants); in fact, Primula without Dodecatheon is paraphyletic. One way of avoiding this is to move the Dodecatheon species into Primula. If this is done, the former genus Dodecatheon becomes a monophyletic section, Primula subg. Auriculastrum sect. Dodecatheon (L.) A.R.Mast & Reveal.[2]

Cultivation

Several species are found in cultivation, including Dodecatheon dentatum, Dodecathon hendersonii and Dodecathon meadia.

Dodecathon need good drainage and often dry soils in summer and winter when plants are dormant, in the spring plants like moist soils for best growth. Plants grown in dry soils tend to be smaller and lower growing. Since plants typically go summer dormant, seed raised plants need three or more years of growth before they are large enough to bloom. For some Dodecatheon, if given frequent light fertilization and kept moist, dormancy can be delayed resulting in larger plants after germination and the interval between germination and flowering decreased by a year or two. Another technique to shorten the interval between seed germination and flowering is to place the plants in a cooler after dormancy has set in, in late spring, and after a number of weeks move the plants to a shadehouse in midsummer where new growth will start. The flowers need buzz pollination to produce seeds.

Dodecatheon can be propagated by division in winter.

Species

There are 17 species:

namecommon namelocation
Dodecatheon alpinumAlpine shootingstarCalifornia
Dodecatheon amethystinumJewelled shootingstarUpper Midwest US, Pennsylvania
Dodecatheon austrofrigidumFrigid shootingstarCoast ranges of Oregon and Washington
Dodecatheon clevelandiiPadre's shootingstarCalifornia
Dodecatheon conjugensBonneville shootingstarWyoming to Oregon
Dodecatheon dentatumWhite shootingstarWashington to Idaho
Dodecatheon frenchiiFrench's shootingstarSoutheastern US
Dodecatheon frigidumWestern arctic shootingstarAlaska, NW Canada, Russia
Dodecatheon ellisiaeEllis' shootingstarArizona, New Mexico, W Mexico
Dodecatheon hendersoniiBroad-leaved shootingstarCalifornia to Idaho
Dodecatheon jeffreyiSierra shootingstarCalifornia
Dodecatheon meadiaMead's shootingstarEastern US
Dodecatheon poeticumPoet's shootingstarWashington, Oregon
Dodecatheon pulchellumPretty shootingstarwestern North America, northwest Mexico
Dodecatheon redolensScented shootingstarCalifornia, Nevada and Utah
Dodecatheon subalpinumSierran shootingstarCalifornia
Dodecatheon utahenseWasatch shootingstarBig Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

References
  1. Frederic G. Cassidy, Chief Editor; Joan Houston Hall, Associate Editor (1996). Dictionary of American regional English. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 470. ISBN 0-674-20519-7.
  2. Reveal, James L. (2009). "Dodecatheon". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 8. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.