Bonneville Shooting Star, Desert Shooting Star, Slimpod Shooting Star: Dodecatheon conjugens (Synonyms: Dodecatheon conjugens ssp. conjugens, Dodecatheon conjugens ssp. leptophyllum, Dodecatheon conjugens var. conjugens, Dodecatheon conjugens ssp. viscidum, Dodecatheon conjugens var. conjugens, Dodecatheon conjugens var. viscidum)

Desert shooting star is an attractive perennial wildflower with a basal rosette of leaves and erect stem from 5-20 cm tall. The leaves are lanceolate to oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, 3-20 cm long, usually several times longer than wide, with entire margins and a smooth to lightly pubescent surface.

The 1-10 flowers have floral parts in fives, with the stigma not enlarged and the filaments are free, yellowish or purple, and usually not over 1-1.5 mm long. The anther connectives are strongly transversely wrinkled and from deep red to purple. The anthers are from 6-8 mm long. The tube at the base of the petals is yellowish with a wrinkled red ring. The corollas are 1-3 cm long. The reflexed petals are purplish.

2. Filaments only 1-1.5 mm long, giving the stamens the appearance of being very short.

Desert shooting star is a wildflower of seasonally moist open grasslands or sagebrush in the plains, foothills and montane zones of the west.

Desert shooting star may be found from the east slopes of the Cascade Mts. east to Alberta and Wyoming, north to British Columbia, and south to northern California.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found from Rowland Lake east between the elevations of 200'-3000'.

Close-ups of desert shooting star as seen from the Dancing Rock Property near the Columbia Hills State Park, Columbia River Gorge..........March 15, 2010.

This group of photos show detailed close-ups of the leaves, flowers and whole plant of desert shooting star as seen in oak forest openings along the south side of Dillacort Creek, lower Klickitat River drainage.........April 3, 2011. With this species, the filament tube is generally not seen but a small portion of the yellow tube is seen just above the anthers in one of these photos. I wonder if this might represent an older flower (in other words, I wonder if the filament tube may become partially visible as the flower ages?).

The photo at left shows desert shooting star blooming adjacent to the Memaloose Overlook, Columbia River Gorge.........March 23, 2014. The photo at right shows desert star from bluffs above and to the east of the Crawford Oaks trailhead at Columbia Hills State Park...........March 15, 2014.

Desert shooting stars blooming on vernally moist scabland slopes above the Crawford Oaks trailhead, Columbia Hills State Park..........March 3, 2015.

Desert shooting stars blooming under oregon white oaks at Catherine Creek.........March 23, 2017.

A close-up view of the basal leaves and flower buds of desert shooting stars about a week before they begin blooming on benches above SR14 at Columbia Hills Historical State Park......March 6, 2023.

Desert shooting stars on steep grassland slopes near Ferry Springs, Deschutes River State Recreation Area........March 31, 2017.

Desert shooting stars showing flower buds at Catherine Creek......February 18, 2020.

Desert shooting stars still in bloom under the oaks at Mill Creek Ridge, Wasco County, OR.....March 19, 2020.

Desert shooting stars in bloom along Rowena Creek about one-third of a mile south of old Highway 30, Columbia River National Scenic Area.....April 13, 2023.

Close-up of the flower of desert shooting star as seen at left from the mouth of the Deschutes River, Columbia River Gorge..........March 30, 2002. The photo at right shows the thick, fleshy leaves and several flower buds poking up out of the oak leaf litter at Catherine Creek, Columbia River Gorge.......February 25, 2022.

A second close-up of the flower of desert shooting star as seen from Horsethief Butte, Columbia Hills State Park............March 11, 2006.

One of the first desert shooting stars of 2013 as seen at left blooming on low benches above Washington Highway 14 east of Eightmile Creek in the Columbia Hills State Park...........March 2, 2013. The photo at right shows a desert shootingstar in bud under oaks along trails at the Lyle Cherry Orchard just east of Lyle, WA......March 11, 2022.