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Primula latiloba; photograph Thayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAThayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal

Primulaceae · British Columbia, Idaho +2

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Primula latiloba, photograph Thayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula latiloba, photograph Hedwig Storch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula latiloba, photograph peganum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula latiloba, photograph peganum from Henfield, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula latiloba, photograph peganum from Small Dole, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula latiloba, photograph 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 7 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-19.4°C
Record low -32.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,092mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
7–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes October to March, with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Primula latiloba, synonyms Dodecatheon dentatum and Dodecatheon latilobum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, known by the common names white shooting star and toothed American cowslip.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Primula latiloba", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Primula

Primula is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose, a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are P. auricula (auricula), P. veris (cowslip), and P. elatior (oxlip). More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Primula", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (812 mm of 1,120 mm) falls in October to March, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February, March, April, December and January, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

1,120 mm in the median year at the habitat, 812 mm of it October to March. Wettest month November at 176 mm, driest month July at 27 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 617 mm to 2,182 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,092 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,120 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -19.4 °C, the absolute minimum -32.6 °C, 9,132 frost nights in 44 years, 207.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -8.3 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range -13.2 °C to -1.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.1 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -19.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +292 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Primula latiloba through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low -8.3 °C; 1,120 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-20°0°20°40°frost29.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-32.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 7–46RH 52–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 63 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -5–51 / -3–73 / 0–108 / 4–1413 / 9–1818 / 14–2223 / 19–2723 / 19–2718 / 14–2210 / 6–152 / -2–8-3 / -6–4
Night °C-7 / -12–-1-7 / -11–0-5 / -8–2-2 / -6–31 / -3–75 / 2–109 / 5–139 / 5–135 / 2–100 / -3–6-5 / -10–2-8 / -13–-1
Rain mm166 / 73–317115 / 55–24288 / 45–21961 / 34–15173 / 42–11869 / 35–10027 / 15–6429 / 13–5749 / 25–7895 / 46–186176 / 79–341172 / 86–345
DLI9 / 7–1015 / 13–1724 / 20–2634 / 29–3640 / 36–4243 / 40–4546 / 43–4840 / 37–4230 / 27–3218 / 15–2010 / 8–117 / 5–9
RH %66 / 63–6863 / 61–6561 / 59–6458 / 56–6257 / 54–6156 / 53–6153 / 49–5752 / 48–5654 / 52–5759 / 57–6265 / 63–6866 / 63–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 63 grid cells holding the 134 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 848:1184 (47.575, -120.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -32.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 63 distinct grid cells holding 134 of the 134 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 848:1184 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +292 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1289 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 4005308 (Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum A.Gray, 0 records), 4005594 (Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth, 0 records), 5640934 (Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal, 218 records), 8623749 (Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeBritish Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, Washington · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker47.562, -120.783 · in the densest population, 91 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 155 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 134 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 43 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 244 km away. 21 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 4005308 (Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum A.Gray): Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum A.Gray (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 4005594 (Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth): Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5640934 (Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal): Kew's file holds it as Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal (accepted); 218 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 8623749 (Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer): Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 155 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Primula latiloba, photograph 1did not loadPrimula latiloba, photograph 2did not loadPrimula latiloba, photograph 3did not loadPrimula latiloba, photograph 4did not loadPrimula latiloba, photograph 5did not loadPrimula latiloba, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Thayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Hedwig Storch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; peganum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; peganum from Henfield, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; peganum from Small Dole, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Claytonia cordifolia Claytonia cordifolia Heart-leaved spring-beauty Photo: CC BY, John BrewAngelica arguta Angelica arguta Sharp-toothed angelica Photo: CC BY, machaut2Polemonium californicum Polemonium californicum California Jacob's ladder Photo: CC BY, John BrewAndrosace nivalis Androsace nivalis Snow dwarf primrose Photo: CC BY, James H. ThomasVaccinium membranaceum Vaccinium membranaceum Montana huckleberry Photo: CC BY, Jake AndersonEricameria greenei Ericameria greenei Greene's goldenbush Photo: CC BY, Darrin LeBlanc

Other Primula 204 in the reference

Primula albenensis Primulaceae Primula algida Primula algida Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Юлия ЗахаренкоPrimula allionii Primula allionii Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Flavien SaboureauPrimula alpicola Primula alpicola Moonlight primrose Photo: CC BY-SA, peganumPrimula amethystina Primula amethystina Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossPrimula amoena Primula amoena Caucasian primrose Photo: CC BY, Екатерина КравцоваPrimula angustifolia Primula angustifolia Alpine primrose Photo: CC BY, Aiva NoringsethPrimula anisodora Primula anisodora Anise primrose Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsPrimula apennina Primula apennina Primulaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPrimula aurantiaca Primula aurantiaca Primulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, SalicynaPrimula aureata Primula aureata Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, desertnaturalistPrimula auricula Primula auricula Auricula Photo: CC BY, Jonas Sielenkämper all 205 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Dodecatheon frigidum var. dentatum; Dodecatheon dentatum; Dodecatheon latilobum; Meadia dentata; Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Primulaceae
Described by
(A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal
Native to
British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon +1
Wild records
155 in range · 43 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal (plant_name_id 2608372), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 4005308, Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum A.Gray (Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon meadia var. latilobum A.Gray (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 4005594, Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth (Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal)): GBIF occurrence search API; 218 records of GBIF's key 5640934, Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal (Kew's file holds it as Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal (accepted)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 8623749, Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer (Kew's file holds it as Dodecatheon latilobum (A.Gray) Elmer ex R.Knuth (synonym under Primula latiloba (A.Gray) A.R.Mast & Reveal)): GBIF occurrence search API
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +292 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 60447605-2, POWO 60447605-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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