Flora of North America species comparison

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Prosartes

fairy-bell, fairybells
Habit Herbs, from slender, knotty rhizomes with fibrous roots, generally pubescent throughout.
Stems

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

sessile or subsessile;

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

strictly terminal.
Flowers

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.
Seeds

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

Prosartes
Distribution
from USDA
North America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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. 142. Author: Frederick H. Utech.
Parent taxa Liliaceae
Subordinate taxa
P. hookeri, P. lanuginosa, P. maculata, P. smithii, P. trachycarpa
Synonyms Disporum section P.
Name authority 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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