Sentinel Conservation Area is in Polk County. Sentinel Conservation Area was acquired in part through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act administered by the U.S.
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Scientific Name
Primula meadia (syn. Dodecatheon meadia)
Family
Primulaceae (primroses)
Description
Common shooting star is a beloved native spring wildflower. It bejewels prairies, glades, bluffs, and open wooded slopes with its remarkable, downward-pointing flowers.
Common shooting star is a nonwoody perennial with a long flowering stalk that rises from a whorl of basal leaves. The tip of the flowering stalk has several smaller, drooping stalks, each of which bears a single flower.
Each flower has 5 petallike, large lobes that recurve upward. The stamens and pistil protrude downward from tube, giving the “shooting star” appearance. The flowers may be pink, white, or purplish.
Blooms April–June.
The leaves are all basal, long-ovate to spatula-shaped, narrowed toward the base, the midrib often tinted red.
- Plants and flowers growing on prairies are much more robust and larger than those growing on glades.
Similar species: Missouri has two other native species of shooting stars, both uncommon, and neither widespread:
Amethyst shooting star, or jeweled shooting star (P. fassettii; syn. D. amethystinum) is a Missouri species of conservation concern; it is uncommon in central Missouri and in Marion County.
- It occurs on moist ledges and tops of limestone and dolomite bluffs.
- It looks very similar to common shooting star, but its leaves are more bluish and lack reddish color at the leaf bases, the petals are a deeper, uniform pink or purple, and the fruiting capsules are more cylindrical (not very tapered) and have thinner walls.
- The current range of this species is apparently related to periods of glacier expansion and retreat across North America.
French's shooting star (P. frenchii) is a Missouri species of conservation concern; in Missouri it is known from only Ste. Genevieve and possibly Douglas counties.
- It occurs on ledges of moist, shaded, usually overhung sandstone bluffs.
- It has white flowers, and its leaf blades are cordate (lobed) at the base, abruptly tapered to the leaf stem.
- It was long thought to be a variant of common shooting star, but it differs enough in form and genetics that it is now considered distinct.
Other Common Names
Eastern Shooting Star
Bird's Bill
Shootingstar
Prairie Pointers
American Cowslip
Size
Height: to 2 feet. Grows larger in prairies than on glades.
Where To Find
Nearly statewide; absent or uncommon in the northwestern quarter and in the far southeastern counties.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in prairies, glades, bluffs, and open wooded slopes.
Nonflowering plants of this species are often seen in the woods; it does not flower well in shaded areas.
The fragrance of the flowers is something like the odor of grape juice, and the roots are said to smell something like canned corned beef.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
This is truly one of Missouri's most beautiful spring wildflowers. On glades and blufftops, it can form colonies that dazzle and delight you as you come upon those sunny openings after hiking for a while in the woods. On prairies, a big colony of shooting stars, rising above the low vegetation of early spring, wiggles and waves in the breeze, like bells that ring not with sound, but with color.
At least one cultivated variety has been developed with larger flowers and taller flowering stalks. If you are wanting to grow shooting stars in your garden, please make sure you get them from an ethical nursery that doesn’t dig plants from the wild or buy from any suppliers who do. This species can be difficult to transplant, or even to start from seed, anyway.
The species name, meadia, honors the English physician Richard Mead (1673–1754), who contributed to medical knowledge about transmissible diseases. Like many other doctors of his time, he was also interested in natural history. Linnaeus was the botanist who named the plant after him.
Ecosystem Connections
The unusual form of the flowers is an adaptation for a special pollination strategy. In this case, queen bumblebees (active in spring when this species flowers) cause the flower to release pollen by rapidly vibrating muscles in their thorax.
- This is sometimes called "buzz pollination," and only certain types of bees can pollinate flowers this way.
- Only pollen is collected, because although shooting star flowers are fragrant, they do not produce nectar.
- Apparently, shooting stars are incapable of fertilizing themselves, thus they depend on bumblebees and other specialized native bees for pollen transport.
After this plant has flowered and produced seeds, the foliage withers in summer and the plant goes dormant until next spring.
The shooting stars used to have their own genus, Dodecatheon, within the primrose family, but recent studies have shown their lineage lies entirely within the lineage of the large genus Primula; therefore they are now placed within that big genus of flowers commonly called primroses. Shooting stars are, however, still a distinct group (section Dodecatheon) within genus Primula.
Title
Media Gallery
Image
Caption
A beloved native spring wildflower, shooting star makes a lasting impression on hikers who encounter a nice big colony of these downward-pointing pink, white, or purplish flowers.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Photo by Julianna Schroeder, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
Image
Caption
In common shooting star, the tip of the flowering stalk has several smaller, drooping stalks, each of which bears a single flower. The flowers can be pink, white, or purplish.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Common shooting star is a beloved native spring wildflower. It grows on prairies, glades, bluffs, and open wooded slopes.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
The leaves of common shooting stare are all basal, long-ovate to spatula-shaped, narrowed toward the base, with the midrib often tinted red.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Shooting star plants and flowers growing on prairies are usually much more robust and larger than those growing on glades.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Shooting Star at White River Valley Trails, Branson
Credit
Submitted by Morgan Wyatt
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
The unusual form of shooting star flowers is an adaptation for a special pollination strategy only bumblebees can accomplish. Also, note how the spent flowers straighten to point upward as the fruits are maturing.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
In common shooting star, each flower has 5 petallike, large lobes that recurve upward. The stamens and pistil protrude downward from tube, giving the “shooting star” appearance.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Common shooting star is a nonwoody perennial wildflower with a long flowering stalk that rises from a whorl of basal leaves.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Credit
Noppadol Paothong
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
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Credit
Noppadol Paothong
Right to Use
Photo by Noppadol Paothong , courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Credit
Noppadol Paothong
Right to Use
Photo by Noppadol Paothong , courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Credit
Submitted by Su Lyn Rogers
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
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Where to See Species
Clifty Creek Conservation Area and Clifty Creek Natural Area are adjacent to one another and combined offer the public 486 acres in Maries County to enjoy.
The Conservation Department acquired this native remnant prairie in 1978. It is currently 529 acres in size.
The once vast prairies that covered as much as 15,000,000 acres of Missouri had diminished to just a few hundred thousand acres by the mid-1970’s. The prairies inherited by the earl
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!