Flora of North America species comparison

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Prosartes hookeri

Prosartes

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

fairy-bell, fairybells
Habit Plants 3–10 dm, roughly pubescent. Herbs, from slender, knotty rhizomes with fibrous roots, generally pubescent throughout.
Stems

sparingly branched.

branched distally, with 2–5 papery bracts sheathing proximally.
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.

sessile or subsessile;

blade broadly ovate to oblanceolate, veinlets forming loose reticulum.
Inflorescences

strictly terminal.
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.

1–4(–7) in a cluster, nodding, pedicellate;

tepals deciduous, distinct, weakly gibbous proximally;

stamens hypogynous, basally adnate to tepals;

filaments filiform to basally dilated;

anthers linear-oblong, extrorse;

ovary superior, sessile, 3-locular, narrowly ellipsoid to obovoid, ovules 2–6 per locule, pendulous or horizontal;

style included or exserted, filiform;

stigma not lobed or weakly 3-lobed;

pedicel slender.
Fruits

baccate, straw-colored to red, ± fleshy.
Berries

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

Seeds

5–6 mm.

light yellow to orangish brown, ellipsoid to oblong, smooth. x = 6, 8, 9, 11.
2n

= 18.

Prosartes hookeri

Prosartes
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]
from USDA
North America
[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.)

Species 5 (5 in the flora).

The American species have long been treated as section Prosartes of the otherwise Asian genus Disporum (H. Hara 1988; Q. Jones 1951). However, cytological, morphological, and molecular evidence indicates a degree of difference that justifies generic status for this group (M. N. Tamura et al. 1992; Z. K. Shinwari et al. 1994; T. Fukuhara and Z. K. Shinwari 1994). Within Prosartes there are two disjunct, east-west pairs: P. lanuginosa and P. hookeri, and P. trachycarpa and P. maculata (F. H. Utech et al. 1995; C. E. Wood Jr. 1970).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Ovary broadly ovoid to obovoid or obconic to obpyriform, becoming 3-lobed after anthesis, papillose, sometimes also with ascending, stellate glandular hairs; ovules horizontal; leaf margins moderately pubescent, hairs scattered, flattened.
→ 2
1. Ovary ellipsoid or ovoid to obovoid, glabrous or somewhat pubescent; ovules pendulous; leaf margins glabrous or short-pubescent.
→ 3
2. Leaf apex acute, with 7–9 prominent veins; tepals lacking purple spots and basal claws, 8–15 mm; ovary finely papillose; berries reddish orange to bright red; cordilleran and interior North America.
P. trachycarpa
2. Leaf apex acuminate, with (3–)5 prominent veins; tepals spotted with purple, narrowly clawed basally, 15–25 mm; ovary papillose with stellate glandular hairs; berries pale straw-colored; e North America.
P. maculata
3. Stems freely branched; leaf margins glabrous or sparsely pubescent; perianth cylindrical, truncate basally; tepals 15–28 mm; berries 3–6-seeded; coastal w North America.
P. smithii
3. Stems sparingly branched; leaf margins short-pubescent, hairs pointed sharply forward; perianth turbinate, narrowed basally; tepals 8–22 mm; berries 1–4(–6)-seeded; e, w North America.
→ 4
4. Tepals greenish yellow, linear-lanceolate, apex long-acuminate; ovary glabrous; stigma weakly 3-lobed; abaxial leaf surface lanulose, densely so on veins; e North America.
P. lanuginosa
4. Tepals creamy white, oblanceolate, apex short-acuminate; ovary glabrous or somewhat pubescent; stigma unlobed or rarely 3-lobed; abaxial leaf surface scabrous or puberulent, especially on veins; w North America.
P. hookeri
Source FNA vol. 26. FNA vol. 26, p. 142. Author: Frederick H. Utech.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Prosartes Liliaceae
Sibling taxa
P. lanuginosa, P. maculata, P. smithii, P. trachycarpa
Subordinate taxa
P. hookeri, 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 Disporum section P.
Name authority Torrey: Pacif. Railr. Rep. 4(5): 144. (1857) D. Don: Proc. Linn. Soc. London 1: 48. (1839)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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