Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium rugelii |
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giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
illscented wakerobin, southern nodding trillium |
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Rhizomes | ± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
short, thick, tapered to point distally. |
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Scapes | 1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
1–3, round in cross section, 1.5–4 dm, robust, 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. |
sessile to subsessile; blade bright green, veins not engraved, rhombic, broader than long, 6–15 × 6–16 cm, not glossy, base attenuate, apex 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. |
strongly recurved below bracts; sepals shorter than petals and somewhat obscured by them, spreading, green, very rarely streaked with red, lanceolate-elliptic, 15–40 × 7–17 mm, margins entire, apex acuminate; petals recurving in distal 1/2 in most forms (forms from Alabama with petals slightly narrower and strongly recurved just above base), white, rarely 2-colored with base rose or dark purple and white, adaxial veins conspicuous, broadly ovate-elliptic, 2.5–5 × 0.8–3.5 cm, heavy-textured, margins entire, without undulations, apex abruptly acuminate; stamens ± straight, 8–18 mm; filaments deep purple, 2–8 mm, slender; anthers ± straight, dark purple, 12–16 mm, thin, dehiscence introrse; connectives not extended beyond anther sacs; ovary prominent, purple-streaked or maroon distally or throughout, flask-shaped, 6-angled, 14–17 mm, widely attached at base; stigmas recurved, distinct, dark purple, not lobed adaxially, subulate, 2–5 mm, fleshy; pedicel strongly recurved beneath bracts, 1–7+ cm. |
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Fruits | red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
baccate, dark reddish purple, fragrance faintly of fruit, ovoid to orbicular, 1.7 × 2 cm, fleshy, juicy. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium rugelii |
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Phenology | Flowering mid spring (mid Apr–May). | |||||
Habitat | Deciduous forest hillsides and coves, inner piedmont, mostly in alluvial soils along stream banks and flats | |||||
Elevation | 200–700 m (700–2300 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.) |
The Alabama plants of Trillium rugelii differ from those in the Great Smoky Mountains region in having usually smaller bracts, narrower ovate petals strongly recurved from the base, and strongly fragrant flowers with the odor of old-fashioned garden roses. The anther color and structure are the same as in the mountain form. Hybrids between T. vaseyi and T. rugelii occur frequently. Trillium rugelii has been much confused with T. cernuum in past floras, and it is the taxon upon which most reports of T. cernuum south of Virginia are based. (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. 103. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | |||||
Name authority | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | Rendle: J. Bot. 39: 331, plate 426, fig. B1901 (as rugeli) | ||||
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