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drops-of-gold, fairy-bells, Hooker fairy-bell, Hooker's fairy-bells, Oregon fairybells

Habit Plants 3–10 dm, roughly pubescent.
Stems

sparingly branched.

Leaves

3–9(–14) × 1.5–5 cm;

blade ovate to lanceolate, rounded to obliquely subcordate, adaxial surface glabrate or sparsely pubescent, abaxial surface scabrous or puberulent especially on veins, margins minutely pubescent to scabrous, hairs pointed sharply forward, apex long-acuminate to acute.

Flowers

2–3(–4);

perianth turbinate, narrowed basally;

tepals spreading, dull or creamy white to greenish white, oblanceolate, 8–18 mm, apex short-acuminate;

stamens included or exserted, 8–15 mm;

filaments filiform, 6–15 mm;

anthers 3–5 mm, glabrous or minutely sharp-bristled;

ovary ellipsoid, glabrous or somewhat pubescent, ovules 2 per locule, pendulous;

styles glabrous or basal 1/2 pubescent;

stigma not lobed or rarely weakly 3-lobed.

Berries

bright red, 4(–6)-seeded, ovoid to obovoid, beaked with persistent style bases, 8–16 mm.

Seeds

5–6 mm.

2n

= 18.

Prosartes hookeri

Phenology Flowering early spring–mid summer.
Habitat Damp, shady forests and thickets
Elevation 100–2000 m (300–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MI; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The three geographical races recognized as varieties by Q. Jones (1951), i.e., var. hookeri (coastal California northwards), var. oreganum (northern California north and northwestward), and var. trachyandrum (Sierra Nevada northwest to Oregon), are highly variable and intergrade with respect to their purportedly diagnostic differences in pubescence on the anthers, ovaries, and styles, and in the degree of stamen exsertion. This is especially true in their overlapping ranges in northern California and southern Oregon. Whereas the extremes may be distinctive, overall the varieties so intergrade that they are not here recognized.

From this same area, where the Coastal, Sierra, and Cascade ranges meet, the purported, sterile hybrid Prosartes parvifolia was first reported. The few older collections attributed to P. parvifolia and recent dwarf ones of P. hookeri from this area are similar, especially those from serpentine substrata, and the known variation in P. hookeri unquestionably encompasses the morphology described for P. parvifolia.

The recently discovered population of Prosartes hookeri in the Porcupine Mountains of upper Michigan (E. G. Voss 1972–1985, vol. 1) is a noteworthy disjunction for this otherwise western species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Prosartes
Sibling taxa
P. lanuginosa, P. maculata, P. smithii, P. trachycarpa
Synonyms Disporum hookeri, Disporum hookeri var. oblongifolium, Disporum hookeri var. oreganum, Disporum hookeri var. trachyandrum, Disporum oreganum, Disporum parvifolium, Disporum trachyandrum, P. oregana, P. parvifolia
Name authority Torrey: Pacif. Railr. Rep. 4(5): 144. (1857)
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