Yellow Mandarin

This rare old-forest obligate is readily distinguished by its purple-spotted, clawed tepals and its three-lobed, straw-colored, hairy-papillose fruit (R. G. Johnson 1968).

Plants 3–8 dm, glabrescent with age. Stems sparingly branched. Leaves 4–15 × 2–4 cm; blade ovate to lanceolate, rounded to subcordate basally, abaxial surface veins and margins pubescent, hairs scattered, flattened, apex sharply acuminate, with (3–)5 prominent veins. Flowers 1–3(–4); perianth broadly campanulate; tepals creamy white spotted with purple, ovate-lanceolate, abruptly narrowly clawed basally, 15–25 mm, apex acuminate; stamens exserted; filaments filiform, 15–20 mm; anthers 3–6 mm; ovary obconic to obpyriform, becoming 3-lobed after anthesis, papillose with ascending, stellate glandular hairs, ovules 2–4 per locule, horizontal; style 1.4–2.3 cm, glabrous; stigma 3-lobed. Berries pale straw-colored, 3-lobed, 6–10-seeded, 10–15 mm, papillose with stellate hairs arising from papillae; lobes subglobose. Seeds 4 mm. 2n = 12.

Ala., Ga., Ky., Mich., N.C., Ohio, Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Flowering early--late spring.

Rich, moist, deciduous woods, slopes and ravines; 100--800m.

Streptopus maculatus Buckley, Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 170. 1843; Disporum cahnae Farwell; D. maculatum (Buckley) Britton; D. schaffneri Moldenke

Prosartes maculata is a North American species of plants in the lily family with the common names yellow mandarin, spotted mandarin, or nodding mandarin. It is a perennial plant that flowers in the spring.

It is a native plant of the Great Smoky Mountains and occurs in other parts of the Appalachian region from northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama to southern West Virginia and southern Ohio. There are old reports of isolated populations from near Detroit, Michigan, but these appear now to have been lost to urban development.

Prosartes maculata is a herb that grows up to 80 cm tall. Its flowers are bell-shaped, nodding (hanging downward), cream-colored with purple spots.