Yellow Fairybells

Recent collections have extended the known range of Prosartes lanuginosa from the unglaciated Appalachians to the other ancient, eastern North American upland, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.

Plants 4–7.5(–10) dm, finely pubescent. Stems sparingly branched. Leaves 5–15 × 2–5 cm; blade ovate to oblanceolate, rounded basally, adaxial surface glabrate or veins moderately pubescent, abaxial surface lanulose, densely so on veins, margins short-pubescent, hairs uniform, pointed sharply forward, apex narrowly acuminate. Flowers 1–3; perianth turbinate, narrowed basally; tepals spreading, greenish white to greenish yellow, linear-lanceolate to linear-elliptic, 15–22 mm, apex long-acuminate; stamens included, 8–15 mm; filaments narrowly dilated basally, 6–12 mm; anthers 2–4 mm, glabrous; ovary narrowly ellipsoid, glabrous, ovules 2 per locule, pendulous; style stout, 8–12 mm, glabrous; stigma weakly 3-lobed. Berries bright red, 1–2(–4)-seeded, globose, 10–15 mm, glabrous. Seeds 5–6 mm. 2n = 18.

Ont.; Ala., Ark., Ga., Ky., Md., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Flowering late spring--early summer.

Rich moist, deciduous woods, coves; 200--1600m.

Streptopus lanuginosus Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 201. 1803; Disporum lanuginosum (Michaux) G. Nicholson

Prosartes lanuginosa is a North American plant species in the lily family with the common names yellow mandarin or yellow fairybells.

Prosartes lanuginosa is native to the Great Smoky Mountains and occurs in many other parts of the Appalachian region from New York to Alabama. Isolated populations occur outside Appalachia, as in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas and in southwestern Ontario.