prairie shooting star

not listed

NNR - Unranked

S1 - Critically Imperiled

Endangered

FAC - Facultative

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

Prairie shooting star is a 8″ to 24″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from fibrous, slightly thickened roots. The roots produce a rosette of basal leaves and one or more flowering stalks.

There is no central stem.

The leaves are all basal. They are oblong or oblong lance-shaped, 2⅓″ to 8″ long, but usually no longer than 4″, and ¾″ to 2½″ wide. They are rounded or blunt at the tip, taper gradually to the leaf stalk, and are reddish at the base and along the single, conspicuous midvein. The margins are untoothed. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless.

The inflorescence is an umbel of 4 to 25 flowers at the end of a leafless, hairless, flowering stalk (scape).

The flowers are ⅜″ to 1″ long and hang downward at the end of 1½″ long, arching flower stalks. The corolla is white, light pink, or rosy pink, rarely magenta, with a yellow band and maroon spots near the base. Most populations in the northern part of the species’ range have white flowers. Most populations in the north have flowers tinged with pink, rosy pink, or magenta. The petals are bent back strongly near the base and are held mostly erect. There are 5 stamens with anthers fused into a cone-shaped tube. There is no floral scent.

The fruit is an egg-shaped, dark reddish-brown capsule, ¼″ to ⅔″ long, less than 3 times as long as wide, with many seeds. The wall of the capsule is thick and firm. The capsule does not split at the bottom.

8″ to 24″

White, light pink, or rosy pink, rarely magenta

Jeweled shooting star (Primula fassettii) petals are mostly deep rose-purple or pink, rarely white. The wall of the capsule is thin and flexible.

Dry to wet. Prairies, woods. Full sun.

April to June

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 28, 29, 30.

The two sightings in Carver County (light green on the map) are both from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, where it is not “outside of cultivation.”

Native

Rare in Minnesota

Species in the section Dodecatheon were formerly placed in the genus Dodecatheon. Based on morphology, on cell structure, and on molecular phylogenetic studies, the genus was transferred intact in 2007 to the genus Primula, subgenus Auriculastrum, as the new section Dodecatheon. The transfer made Primula monophyletic and valid, where it had previously been paraphyletic and invalid. The transfer has been widely but not universally accepted.

Some authorities, including USDA PLANTS and World Flora Online, recognize two subspecies. Of these, only the nominate subspecies, ssp. meadia, occurs in Minnesota. The range of the two types overlap throughout their entire range. There is so much intergradation between the separating characteristics that it is difficult or impossible to confidently assign a subspecies to most specimens. For these reasons, most authorities, including ITIS, GRIN, Flora of North America (FNA), and Plants of the World Online, do not recognize any subspecies.

Plant

Inflorescence