Shooting Star
Shooting Star
Dodecatheon hendersonii
(Photo by Robert Payne)
This delicate "inside-out" flower has always been one of my
favorites. It is one of the first spring flowers to
look for--usually in bloom towards the end of February. Some of
the earliest blooms can be found on the grassy slopes inside
the perimeter road just past E wing. Maybe the heat from the
building warms them up a bit.
They also grow well up by Coyote Peak, in Santa Teresa County Park.
There are nine species of Dodecatheon native to California.
You will mostly see just two around here, Henderson's (or Woodland)
Shooting Star,
D. hendersonii,
and Cleveland's (or Padre's) Shooting Star,
D. clevelandii.
If it has yellow spots on the tips of the anthers, it is the latter.
A few years back, my daughter was on a soccer team called the
Shooting Stars. One day they were reduced to a single substitute,
making just twelve players, four less than their competition.
"Don't worry," I told the coach, "Shooting Stars are Dodecatheon,
named for the Twelve Gods, how can you lose!" I don't remember the
score.
