Trillium chloropetalum
Trillium chloropetalum var. chloropetalum
giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium
giant wakerobin
± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.
1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust.
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.
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.
red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy.
yellow, yellowish green, greenish purple, to deep purple, bronze-green or brown, never white, yellow pigment always present even when masked by purple.
= 10.
Trillium chloropetalum
Trillium chloropetalum var. chloropetalum
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.)
Trillium chloropetalum var. chloropetalum is found in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and in the counties along the east side of San Francisco Bay, north to Napa and Lake counties in California. It is more frequent east and south of the San Francisco Bay region.
J. D. Freeman (1975) determined chemically that all plants of var. chloropetalum have yellow pigment present in petals, though it may be masked by purple. My own quite limited field observations seem to indicate that plants of this variety are somewhat shorter at flowering than those of var. giganteum, and that the bracts of var. chloropetalum show a slightly metallic luster at that stage of development.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petal tissue always with yellow pigments, often present with other pigments; petals yellow, greenish yellow, greenish purple, or bronze-green or brown. | var. chloropetalum |
1. Petal tissue lacking yellow pigments; petals purple, reddish purple, garnet red, pink, or greenish white. | var. giganteum |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
