[The Shooting Stars of the Columbia
River Gorge]
Narcissus Shooting Star, Poet's Shootingstar, Poet's Shooting Star
Dodecatheon poeticum
Synonym: Primula poetica
Poet's shooting star (or desert shooting star?) as seen along the lower sections of The Dalles Mt. Road, north of The Dalles, OR in the Columbia River Gorge.............March 17, 2007.
Photo at right of poet's
shooting star, at Memaloose Overlook, east of Mosier, OR.....April 5, 1997.
Characteristics:
Poet's shooting star is an attractive perennial with a basal
rosette of leaves and a flower stem from 15-30 cm high. The oblanceolate, spatulate,
or oblong-lanceolate leaves range from 4-15 cm long with entire to coarsely
serrate-dentate margins. The leaves and stem are covered with a fine glandular-pubescence
(See photo above.).
The 2-10 flowers have floral parts in fives, with reflexed,
bright, pinkish-purple petals with a yellow-ringed tubular base with a red ring.
The corolla is 12-20 mm long. The filaments are united at the base into a purplish
tube from 1.5-2 mm long. The anther connectives are smooth or transversely wrinkled.
The anther is from 5-7 mm long and purplish. The stigma is not enlarged.
Habitat:
Poet's shooting star may be found on seasonally moist grasslands,
lightly forested oak woods, or on basalt outcrops.
Range:
Poet's shooting star may be found from north of Satus Pass in
Yakima County, WA south to Wasco and Hood River Counties, Oregon.
In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found east of Stevenson,
WA east to about Horsethief Butte between the elevations of 100'-2400'.
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Close-ups of poet's shooting star as seen at the Dancing Rock property (Friends of the Columbia Gorge) in the eastern Columbia River Gorge..............March 15, 2010. The similar desert shooting star often lives nearby in similar habitat in the Columbia River Gorge but it has flowers with shorter filaments and thicker, fleshier and greener basal leaves that are glabrous and broadly lanceolate to ovate in outline. The basal leaves of poet's shooting star are thinner, more erect, and covered with numerous short, gland-tipped hairs.
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Poet's shooting star (or desert shooting star?) as seen along the lower sections of The Dalles Mt. Road, north of The Dalles, OR in the Columbia River Gorge.............March 17, 2007.
Poet's shooting star as seen at Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge....................April 9, 2009.
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Close-ups of poet's shooting star as seen along a small creek at the Canyon Creek trailhead in the Klickitat State Wildlife Area..................May 8, 2009.
A rare white-flowered form of poet's shooting star (Dodecatheon poeticum) as seen in a riparian area near the Soda Springs Road, Klickitat State Wildlife Area..................April 7, 2010.
Poet's shooting star, Catherine Creek, Columbia River Gorge..........April 6, 2002. Note the numerous tiny glands covering the stem and back of the calyx.
Paul Slichter