Trillium chloropetalum
Trillium cuneatum
giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium
bloody butcher, cuneate trillium, large toadshade, little sweet betsy, purple toadshade, sweet betsy, whip-poor-will flower
± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.
horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle.
1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust.
1–5, 1.6–4.5 dm, smooth to rough near bract attachment.
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.
held well above ground, sessile;
blade green to purplish green, weakly to strongly mottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate, ovate-elliptic, occasionally ovate-orbicular with margins overlapping, 7–18.5 × 7–13 cm, usually widest below middle, not glossy, base ± rounded, margins of distal 1/3 convex-curved to apex, apex acuminate to acute.
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.
borne upon bracts, erect, odor usually pleasant, faint, spicy, reminiscent of odor of bruised sweetshrub (Calycanthus) leaves, occasionally musty or unpleasant;
sepals widely spreading, variably green, purple-streaked to all purple, oblong-lanceolate, 27–60 × 7–13 mm, margins entire, apex rounded to acute;
petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, maroon, maroon-purple, brownish purple, bronze, greenish purple, clear green, yellowish green, pale lemon yellow, or 2-colored, yellow distally with purple base, in occasional clones, flowers open or quickly fade to bright copper bronze, the particular color pattern is consistent from year to year, fading to browner tones with age except in yellow or green forms, not spirally twisted, shape quite variable across range, elliptic-obovate to oblanceolate, 4–7 × 0.9–2.7 cm, thick-textured, with widest portion at or above middle, narrowed to usually cuneate basally, not clawed, margins flat, entire, apex acute, rounded-acute to obtuse;
stamens erect, straight, brownish purple-green, 11–18 mm;
filaments brownish purple, 1.5–3.5 mm, widest at base;
anthers erect, straight, brownish gray, 7–14 mm, dehiscence latrorse or occasionally introrse;
connectives straight, scarcely (0.5 mm or less) if at all extended beyond anther sacs;
ovary maroon, ovoid to vase-shaped, weakly 6-angled or -ridged when mature, 12–15 mm;
stigmas erect, slightly diverging to spreading, distinct, purplish gray, linear-subulate to thickly subulate, 4–15 mm, fleshy.
red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy.
green or with purple streaks, ovoid, very obscurely angled or angles no longer apparent, 2 × 1–1.5 cm, mealy or pulpy, fleshy, not juicy.
= 10.
= 10.
Trillium chloropetalum
Trillium cuneatum
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 cuneatum has escaped locally and become established in Michigan and other states. It is most frequent on the Ordovician limestone-derived soils of southern Kentucky and Tennessee, and is perhaps the most vigorous and certainly the largest of the eastern sessile trilliums. Numerous, mostly unnamed color forms occur. Plants from the lower piedmont of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, considered by most botanists to be of this species, have smaller, narrower petals than specimens from northeastern Alabama northward to Kentucky, and they are therefore sometimes difficult to place with certainty.
(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
