Appearance
''Dodecatheon dentatum'' is an herbaceous perennial growing to 40–50 cm in height.This species has toothed leaves, hence one of its common names. The leaves have pointed oval blades up to 10 cm long by 6 cm wide with wavy or toothed edges. Each is borne on a long, winged petiole.
The inflorescence contains 1 to 12 flowers. It arises on a tall, erect flowering stalk. The flower corolla has five white lobes each 1 or 2 centimeters long. They are reflexed away from the flower's center, which contains one style surrounded by large reddish, purplish or black anthers containing pollen. Its bloom period is May to July.
It is the only shooting star to have populations with consistently white flowers. In Utah, petals may be pink or pale violet; elsewhere petals are white or cream. Plants in Arizona and New Mexico have stamens with yellow filaments, in the Northwest filaments are dark maroon or black.
Naming
This species is classified into several subspecies:⤷ ''Dodecatheon dentatum'' subsp. ''dentatum — white shootingstar, endemic to the Pacific Northwest.
⤷ ''Dodecatheon dentatum'' subsp. ''ellisiae'' — Ellis' shootingstar, endemic to Arizona & New Mexico. Also known as ''Dodecatheon ellisiae''.
⤷ ''Dodecatheon dentatum'' subsp. ''utahense'' — pink flowering shootingstar, endemic to Utah. Also known as ''Dodecatheon utahense''.
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