Smith And Hooker

Day 228: Last summer, weeks after the blossoms had passed, Arnie and I were discussing the flora found on the Park's Tahoma Woods property (Park Headquarters), and I mentioned Prosartes hookerii. He checked his list and showed only P. smithii, so nothing would do but what I went on what I fully expected to be a wild goose chase to document both species. When in flower, it would have been a relatively easy task, noting the exposed/hidden stamens and the length of the tepals, but identifying the plants from foliage was another matter, especially since I thought I'd only seen smithii in a few isolated locations where Star-flowered Solomon's Seal also grew in profusion. The leaves and stems of both Fairy-bells and those of Star-flowered Solomon's Seal are very similar, so in essence, I would be hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Were I to find smithii in one of the locations where I thought I might have seen it, I would need to examine the leaves to ascertain whether they were "glabrous to pubescent on upper surface, pubescent below" or "glabrous to glabrate except for the spreading, twisted marginal hairs." Needle in a haystack? Let's make that a four-inch piece of yellowish-tan string in a haystack instead. Okay, I'll cut to the chase: I found what I believed to be smithii in several spots, but without a flower to examine, I wasn't fully convinced. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to lay the mystery to rest while on a search for slime molds. Both Smith and Hooker were in bloom (left and right, respectively). I sent the photos off to Arnie as soon as I got home, and he wrote back saying, "Good work, Sherlock!"