Saw this while out hiking in my usual place. Never seen it before, just the one plant in the entire park
Just curious how you differentiate Prosartes hookeri from P. smithii in fruit. I have both in my garden and have a hard time telling them apart even in flower.
Well, I admit to making a broader assumption than identifying by fruit. I assumed the original poster's usual hiking spot was near Maple Ridge, which eliminates Prosartes smithii as a possibility, since it has only been collected from southwest Vancouver Island in BC. In flower, I look for a tighter grouping of tepals, longer than wide, with only a slight flare at the tip for Prosartes smithii (stamens are also hidden) and a more open grouping of tepals, with more balance between length and width, forming an overall bell shape for Prosartes hookeri. In fruit, Prosartes smithii ripen to red and are again longer than wide, ranging from 12-15mm long. Prosartes hookeri ripen to orange or yellow and are more obovoid, only reaching about 7-9mm in length.
