Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Prosartes trachycarpa

Prosartes

rough-fruit fairy-bells, rough-fruit mandarin, Sierra fairy-bells, wart-berry fairy bells, wartberry

fairy-bell, fairybells
Habit Plants 3–8 dm, crisp-pubescent, glabrate or glabrous with age. Herbs, from slender, knotty rhizomes with fibrous roots, generally pubescent throughout.
Stems

sparingly branched.

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

4–12 × 2–5 cm;

blade ovate to oblong-lanceolate, subcordate to oblique basally, abaxial surface and margins moderately pubescent, hairs scattered, flattened, apex acute to short-acuminate, with 7–9 prominent veins.

sessile or subsessile;

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

strictly terminal.
Flowers

1–2(–3);

perianth narrowly campanulate;

tepals creamy to greenish white, narrowly oblanceolate, 8–15 mm;

stamens mostly exserted;

filaments filiform, 10–15 mm;

anthers 3–4(–5) mm;

ovary broadly ovoid to obovoid, becoming 3-lobed and obpyriform after anthesis, finely papillose, ovules 2–6 per locule, horizontal;

style 0.9–1.2 cm, glabrous or pubescent;

stigma unlobed or 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

reddish orange to bright red, 6–12(–18)-seeded, depressed-globose, 12–18 mm, strongly papillose.

Seeds

4–5 mm.

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

= 22. 

Prosartes trachycarpa

Prosartes
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Rich, shady deciduous forests, aspen groves to open coniferous forests
Elevation 300–2500 m (1000–8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The recently discovered populations of Prosartes trachycarpa in Isle Royale National Park, Michigan (E. J. Judziewicz et al. 1997), are noteworthy disjunctions 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, p. 144. FNA vol. 26, p. 142. Author: Frederick H. Utech.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Prosartes Liliaceae
Sibling taxa
P. hookeri, P. lanuginosa, P. maculata, P. smithii
Subordinate taxa
P. hookeri, P. lanuginosa, P. maculata, P. smithii, P. trachycarpa
Synonyms Disporum trachycarpum, Disporum trachycarpum var. subglabrum Disporum section P.
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 344. (1871) 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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers