Star-Flower. Chickweed-Wintergreen
Trientalis Europæa, Var. Latifolia, Torr. Primrose Family
Root.—Tuberous. Stem.—Four to eight inches high; with a whorl of oval-pointed leaves one to four inches long. Flowers.—White or pink; eight lines across. Calyx and rotate corolla seven-parted, sometimes six- to nine-parted; divisions pointed. Stamens.—As many as the corolla-lobes, and opposite them. Ovary.—One-celled. Style filiform. Hab.—The Coast Ranges, from Monterey northward.
In April and May, as we walk through shaded woods, we begin to notice a trim little plant three or four inches high, with very slender stem, bearing at its summit a number of pretty leaves of varying size. A little later, we find among them one or two delicate pink, starry flowers on very slender, threadlike stems.
The generic name is from the Latin triens, and is in allusion to the height of the plant, which is the third part of a foot.