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bashful trillium, bashful wakerobin, Catesby's trillium

giant purple wakerobin, narrow petal wakerobin, narrow-petal trillium

Habit Plants tall, very robust.
Rhizomes

short, tapered to a point distally.

erect, brownish, thick, somewhat compressed-thickened, praemorse, not brittle.

Scapes

1–2, round in cross section, 2–4.5 dm, slender, glabrous.

1–2, round in cross section, 2.5–6 dm.

Bracts

usually raised somewhat, exposing flower;

blade green, often with underlying purplish maroon in well-lighted plants, major veins on adaxial surface deeply engraved, elliptic-ovate, 6.5–15 × 4–8 cm, including elongated, petiolelike base, proximal 1/3 of leaf gradually tapered to base, margins often slightly raised, apex blunt-acute to acuminate.

held well above ground, spreading horizontally, subsessile;

blade very sparsely mottled with dark greenish brown or rarely all green, mottling becoming obscure with age, broadly ovate, 10–22 × 8.7–15 cm, not glossy, often narrowed to falsely petiolate, very short, and narrowly cuneate base 10–20 mm, apex obtuse.

Flower

opening at or recurved below bracts, rarely erect;

sepals falcate-recurved, green or streaked with purple, linear-lanceolate, 20–45 × 7–8 mm, margins ± flat, apex acuminate;

petals falcate-recurved distally, white, pink, or rose, darkening to pink or nonfading with age, veins visible but not appearing engraved, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3.5–5 × 1–2+ cm, thin-textured, bases somewhat imbricated, forming funnel-like tube, margins undulate, apex acuminate;

stamens prominent, recurved, 16–25 mm;

filaments white, slightly longer and narrower than anthers;

anthers recurving, bright yellow, 5–14 mm, thick, dehiscence introrse;

ovary inconspicuous, white, angular-ovoid, deeply 6-angled, 4–12 × 3–7 mm, slender, base narrow;

style 2–6 mm;

stigmas prominent, strongly curled (circinate) to erect, connate basally, pale green or white, not lobed, 4–10 mm, uniformly thin;

pedicel deflexed or recurved, rarely erect, angled, 2–4(–5) cm.

erect, odor spicy-musty, musty, or fetid;

sepals conspicuous, spreading, often resting on bracts, maroon to green, linear to oblong-lanceolate, 35–47 × 8–10 mm, margins flat, entire, apex acute;

petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary and partially obscuring stamens, dark purple to red-purple, not spirally twisted, veins obscure, linear, 5–10 × 0.7–1.4 cm, 8–10 times longer than wide, glossy, thick-textured, base linear, margins entire, at first flat but inrolling with age, apex variously acute-obtuse;

stamens erect, 12–22 mm;

filaments dark maroon, 2–4 mm, slender, widest at base;

anthers erect, straight, purple, 12–18 mm, dehiscence introrse;

connectives purple, slightly extended 1–1.5 mm beyond anther sacs;

ovary dark, ovoid-ellipsoid, 6-angled toward apex, 7.5–12 mm;

stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, purple, sessile, awl-shaped, thickly subulate, 5 mm, thick, fleshy.

Fruits

baccate, greenish or whitish, ovoid-globose, angles less prominent when mature, 1–1.5 cm diam., pulpy but not juicy.

dark purple, fragrance unknown, subglobose, 6-angled, almost winged, fleshy.

2n

= 10.

Trillium catesbaei

Trillium angustipetalum

Phenology Flowering spring–summer (late Mar–early Jun). Flowering spring–early summer (Mar–Jun).
Habitat Acid soils, open dry or rich woods, laurel and rhododendron thickets, cove forests Big-tree (Sequoiadendron) groves and other mixed coniferous-deciduous flatwoods, slightly damper depressions under maples and deciduous shrubs, coastal mountains, oak (Quercus) groves in ravines and otherwise quite arid, almost treeless chaparral, wooded canyon slopes, dense woods near streams
Elevation 50–800 m (200–2600 ft) 30–200 m (100–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA; NC; SC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Elliott, author of Trillium catesbaei, apparently recognized one of its forms separately as T. nervosum. This name is still mentioned in British horticultural and botanical literature, but it is rarely found in U.S. literature. North American botanists treat T. nervosum as a synonym of T. catesbaei.

Plants of Trillium catesbaei from deep coves in South Carolina tend to have petals that are deeper pink and longer and wider than those of many other populations.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Trillium angustipetalum occurs in the Sierra Nevada from Fresno County north to Placer County (J. D. Freeman 1975). It is disjunct in the coastal mountains and hills of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

B. D. Ness (1993) listed Trillium kurabayashii as a synonym of T. angustipetalum. In bract orientation, color, and texture, and in petal shape, the two are quite different and certainly not the same species. Cytologist Masataka Kurabayashi found chromosomal differences between the two species (reported by J. D. Freeman 1975).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 96. FNA vol. 26.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum
Sibling taxa
T. albidum, T. angustipetalum, T. cernuum, T. chloropetalum, T. cuneatum, T. decipiens, T. decumbens, T. discolor, T. erectum, T. flexipes, T. foetidissimum, T. gracile, T. grandiflorum, T. kurabayashii, T. lancifolium, T. ludovicianum, T. luteum, T. maculatum, T. nivale, T. ovatum, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. sessile, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
T. albidum, T. catesbaei, T. cernuum, T. chloropetalum, T. cuneatum, T. decipiens, T. decumbens, T. discolor, T. erectum, T. flexipes, T. foetidissimum, T. gracile, T. grandiflorum, T. kurabayashii, T. lancifolium, T. ludovicianum, T. luteum, T. maculatum, T. nivale, T. ovatum, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. sessile, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
Synonyms T. affine, T. nervosum, T. stylosum T. sessile var. angustipetalum, T. giganteum var. angustipetalum
Name authority Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 429. (1817) (Torrey) J. D. Freeman: Brittonia 27: 55. (1975)
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