Trillium albidum |
Trillium persistens |
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giant trillium, giant white wakerobin, sessile trillium, smallflower trillium, white toadshade |
persistent wakerobin |
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Rhizomes | horizontal, ± erect, brown, superficially bulblike, short, thick, not brittle. |
horizontal to erect, short, praemorse. |
Scapes | often several from same rhizome terminus, round in cross section, 2.2–5.8 dm, stout. |
1–2, round in cross section, 2–3 dm, slender, glabrous. |
Bracts | held well above ground, sessile; blade weakly mottled with scattered, darker green spots, mottling often fading later in season, broadly ovate, 10–20 × 12–15 cm, not glossy, base rounded, apex obtuse. |
horizontal to drooping distally, sessile; blade 3–5-veined, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–8.5+ × 1.5–3.5 cm, adaxial surface faintly glossy, rarely with ± 2 mm, winged, petiolelike base, apex acuminate. |
Flower | borne directly upon bracts, erect, fragrance roselike; sepals conspicuous, spreading, displayed above bracts, pale green, lanceolate, 30–65 × 12–15 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, usually erect or slightly spreading, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary basally, white to creamy white, rarely soft pinkish rose near base, veins prominent but not engraved, not spirally twisted, obovate, more lanceolate in young plants, 4.8–8 × 2.2–3 cm, widest at or just above middle, ± thick-textured, base cuneate, margins entire, ± flat, apex rounded to acute; stamens erect, greenish white, 15–25 mm; filaments whitish green, 3–4 mm, slender; anthers erect, straight, yellow, 11–20 mm, dehiscence latrorse; connectives straight, extended ca. 1 mm beyond anther sacs, rounded; ovary green or occasionally purple, ovoid, rounded 6-gonal, 6–11 mm; stigmas erect to spreading, distinct, sessile, subulate, 4–7 mm, thin distally. |
opening above bracts; sepals spreading, green, elliptic to narrowly ovate, 11–22 × 5–6 mm, thin-textured, margins entire, apex acute; petals erect proximally, spreading distally, white, fading to deep pink with inverted V-shaped basal portion remaining white, veins not engraved, linear-elliptic to occasionally linear, 2–3.5 × 0.5–1 cm, thin-textured, margins undulate at least in distal portion, apex acute; stamens prominent, erect to divergent, straight, 9–14 mm; filaments ± equaling anthers; anthers straight, yellow or white, dehiscence introrse; connective barely longer than anther sacs; ovary white or greenish white, obovate, very sharply 6-angled, 2.5–6 mm; style 2–6 mm; stigmas erect, slightly divergent at tip, delicate, not lobed, shortly connate basally, uniformly thin; pedicel erect or slightly leaning, 1–3 cm, 1/4–1/2 bract length at anthesis. |
Fruits | green or purplish green, fragrance unknown, ovoid to globose, pulpy, juicy. |
baccate, greenish white, 6-angled, pulpy, not juicy. |
Trillium albidum |
Trillium persistens |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (mid Mar–late Apr). | Flowering spring (early Mar–mid Apr). |
Habitat | Moist slopes in rich mixed deciduous-coniferous forests or coniferous stands, brushy thickets on flats, open fields, pastures, and fencerows, dense second-growth coniferous forests, floodplains along streams and larger rivers | Humus soils in mixed deciduous-pine woodlands, along stream flats and at edges of Rhododendron thickets, occasionally in open Vaccinium-filled clearings |
Elevation | 100–200 m [300–700 ft] | 50 m [160 ft] |
Distribution |
CA; OR
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GA; SC |
Discussion | Of conservation concern. Listed as a U.S. endangered species, Trillium persistens has appeared as such on a postage stamp. The species is very rare and known only from an approximately four-square-mile area at the head of Tallulah Gorge in Georgia and South Carolina. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 106. | FNA vol. 26, p. 101. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | J. D. Freeman: Brittonia 27: 48, fig. 11. (1975) | W. H. Duncan: Rhodora 73: 244. (1971) |
Web links |