Primula jeffreyi

Sierra shooting star, Sierra Shooting Star

Family: Primulaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sierra shooting star is a California native perennial found in northwestern California (excluding North Coast), the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in moist to dry meadows and streambanks at elevations of 600 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces magenta to lavender or white flowers with large corolla lobes 10 to 25 millimeters long in clusters of 3 to 18 blooms. Growing with glabrous leaves and glandular-hairy stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive rosettes of linear-oblanceolate leaves. Its elongated leaves measure 9 to 50 centimeters long, tapering to the base and ranging from entire to slightly crenate in texture. The flower's distinctive dark purple anthers and enlarged stigma add unique visual interest to this elegant alpine wildflower.

Habitat: Moist to dry meadows, streambanks

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 600-3000 m

Bioregions: NW (exc NCo), CaR, SN, MP

California counties: Fresno, Placer, Tulare, Tuolumne, San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.