The 'shooting stars' are American Primulas, known as Dodecatheon, but now in a section of their own within the genus Primula. Almost all of them require cool, moist conditions, like most primulas. All have characteristic flowers with sharply reflexed petals.

Primula (Dodecatheon) pauciflora grows in damp grassland across much of America. The flower are bright pink, with a complex maroon and yellow pattern at the centre, in an umbel usually of less than ten flowers, but occasionally up to 25.