Fairy-bells

Prosartes hookeri Torr. (Liliaceae; formerly Disporum hookeri), Hooker's fairybells or drops-of-gold, is a slender rhizomatous perennial herb 30-80 cm tall, native to moist coniferous and mixed forests of western North America from southern British Columbia south through Washington, Oregon and California to the central Sierra Nevada. The arching, sparsely branched stems emerge from short creeping rhizomes and bear alternate sessile to short-petiolate ovate-lanceolate leaves 4-10 cm long with rounded clasping bases, parallel venation and a finely ciliate margin. Flowers are nodding, narrowly bell-shaped and partly hidden under the foliage in terminal clusters of 1-3 at the tips of branches; the six creamy-white to greenish-yellow tepals are 1-2 cm long and lightly recurved, with six exserted stamens whose anthers are notably longer than the filaments, a useful diagnostic. The fruit is a yellow- to orange-red, finely papillose, ovoid berry 8-12 mm long containing several pale seeds. The plant favors humid forest understory.