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Shooting Stars, are a readily identifiable spring flower in K-Country. Few sights are more breathtaking than seeing them by their thousands blooming in early spring in undisturbed grasslands. They typically start to bloom in late May and will last until early July at higher elevations.
Lots of Stars, but only 2 here
Shooting Stars are primarily North American plants, with only one of the 17 species extending into eastern Asia. Most of the 17 species are found in western North America. Of these, 2 species of shooting stars are found in Alberta and in K-Country.
The species that can be seen in its thousands in undisturbed grasslands on the prairies and in the mountains of southern Alberta is the Mountain Shooting Star, Primula conjugens (Dodecatheon conjugens in older references).
The other species, the Saline Shooting Star, is a plant of wetlands and much less common in K-Country. Its scientific name is Primula pauciflora (Dodecatheon pulchellum in older references). It’s found around the edges of wetlands growing among the sedges and rushes and also along creek sides and seeps in the mountains.
Telling them apart
The two species can generally be told apart by the environments in which they grow, but also by close examination of leaf and flower details. A VERY close look at the leaves (or very close, very clear photos of the leaves that can be blown up) is the easiest way to distinguish them. Mountain Shooting Star has leaves covered in very tiny, gland-tipped, glistening hairs. The leaves of Saline Shooting Star are smooth and hairless.
Both have a small basal rosette of leaves. A leafless flower stalk grows from the base, each topped by a cluster of distinctive flowers that look just like their Shooting Star name. The stamens and dark anthers stick forward in a point and the purple bright pink petals pull are reflexed back. Most anyone can identify them, as they look like they’re going fast. Their pollen is microscopic and released by just the vibration of the wings of nearby visiting bees in a process called “buzz pollination”. All shooting star species are perennials. However, they are “spring ephemerals”, and go dormant soon after blooming. The leaves turn yellow and eventually dry up and disappear. They leave only the dry flower stalks topped by seed capsules. These split open at the top to release the seeds.
When shooting stars are encountered en masse, it’s always fun to hunt around to see if there might be the rare white-flowered one among them!
Some Indigenous peoples made use of the roots and leaves of some shooting star species as food or to treat ailments. The flowers could also be used as decoration or as charms.
See some of the other pretty flowers of K-Country here!
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