Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium catesbaei |
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giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
bashful trillium, bashful wakerobin, Catesby's trillium |
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Rhizomes | ± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
short, tapered to a point distally. |
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Scapes | 1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
1–2, round in cross section, 2–4.5 dm, slender, glabrous. |
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Bracts | held well above ground, sessile (narrowing of bract blade may give bract subsessile appearance); blade densely to weakly mottled in dark brownish green, mottling becoming more obscure to absent as bract matures, broadly ovate, 7–17.6 × 7.4–17.7 cm, not glossy, apex obtuse-rounded. |
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. |
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Flower | erect, odor roselike, spicy; sepals spreading-ascending above bracts, green, lanceolate, 35–65 × 7–12 mm, margins entire, flat, apex obtusely rounded; petals long-lasting, erect, connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, yellow, bronze, maroon, brown, deep purple, reddish brown, pink, dark purplish red, purplish bronze, rarely greenish white, not spirally twisted, veins not engraved, oblanceolate to obovate, 6.5–10 × 1.5–2.5 cm, thick-textured, base cuneate, margins entire, apex variably acute to almost truncate, erose; stamens erect, purplish, 17–26 mm; filaments purple, ca. 4 mm, widest at base, much shorter than anther sacs; anthers erect, straight, ± purple-brown, 13–22 mm, dehiscence introrse; connectives purple, straight, extended ca. 1–1.5 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary purple, ovoid, 6-angled, 6–12 mm; stigmas small, divergent or erect, distinct, purple, subulate, 4–8 mm, not fleshy. |
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. |
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Fruits | red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
baccate, greenish or whitish, ovoid-globose, angles less prominent when mature, 1–1.5 cm diam., pulpy but not juicy. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium catesbaei |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (late Mar–early Jun). | |||||
Habitat | Acid soils, open dry or rich woods, laurel and rhododendron thickets, cove forests | |||||
Elevation | 50–800 m (200–2600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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AL; GA; NC; SC; TN
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). J. D. Freeman (1975) considered that Trillium chloropetalum differs from T. albidum in having introrse (not latrorse) anther sacs, and that the purple pigments present on anther and ovary tissue here are absent in T. albidum. In some places, hybridization between the two certainly has occurred, and a complete range of intergrades exists. This species merits further study. The following varieties are only weakly differentiated and perhaps ought to be dropped. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26. | FNA vol. 26, p. 96. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | T. affine, T. nervosum, T. stylosum | ||||
Name authority | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 429. (1817) | ||||
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