Flowers Growing at Our Home

Western Starflower - Indian Potato

Trientalis latifolia This member of the Primrose family has a delicate stem with a whorl of 3-8 ovate leaves at top, in the center of which blooms 1 or several pink star-shaped flowers, each on its own thread-like stalk. Flowers corolla extends to about 1/2 inch wide with 5-9 pointed lobes. The name Indian Potato refers to the small underground swelling at the base of the stem. Not considered edible. We see many of these plants in our shaded woodlot.