Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium simile |
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giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
confusing trillium, jeweled wakerobin, sweet white trillium |
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Rhizomes | ± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
forming clumps, stout, praemorse. |
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Scapes | 1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
1–many, round in cross section, 3–6 dm, stout, 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 green, major veins prominent, rhombic, 10–18 × 10–20 cm, not glossy, tapered basally, apex short-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. |
above bracts, erect to mostly leaning, odor faintly sweet, applelike; perianth gaping, strongly 3-dimensional; sepals spreading, green, flat, oblanceolate-lanceolate, 20–40 × 6–15 mm, margins entire, apex mildly sulcate; petals spreading-ascending, not recurved to weakly so at tip, creamy white, flat, adaxial veins faintly engraved, ovate to ovate-orbicular, 4–7+ × 1.5–4 cm, 1.5 times as long as sepals, heavy-textured, base rounded, margins entire, apex acuminate; stamens erect to weakly recurved, 7–20 mm; filaments purple or brownish, shorter than anthers, slender; anthers weakly recurved, yellow with brown undertones, 6–20 mm, longer than ovary, slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives purple-brown, not extending beyond anther sacs; ovary dark purplish black, pyramidal at anthesis, very strongly 6-angled, 7–12 mm, widely attached basally; stigmas short, mildly recurved, distinct, purple or yellow, not lobed adaxially, 2–5.5 mm, fleshy, basally widened to gradually tapered; pedicel ± erect to mostly leaning, 4–9 cm. |
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Fruits | red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
baccate, dark purplish black, odorless, orbicular, 1–1.5 cm diam., fleshy, not juicy. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium simile |
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Phenology | Flowering mid spring (Apr–May). | |||||
Habitat | Rich coves of mature forests, edges of Rhododendron thickets and at edges of forests, in moist humus soil | |||||
Elevation | 500–700 m (1600–2300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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GA; NC; 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.) |
A recent study of matK gene sequencing (S. Kazempour Osaloo et al. 1999) placed Trillium simile with the T. grandiflorum group and T. catesbaei, which has united styles and white-angled ovaries, not with the T. erectum group. In my opinion, this may reflect an error in labeling samples, for T. simile has the dark, round ovary with three, separate, subulate stigmas and other characteristics of the T. erectum alliance. Also, it hybridizes with T. erectum and other species of that alliance. L. Barksdale (1938) described a complex of forms that he considered to be the result of such hybridization. I have seen such complexes near Maryville, Tennessee, where T. simile and T. erectum forma album occur together with a full range of intergrades between the two. Trillium catesbaei and the species related to T. grandiflorum do not hybridize with any species, and all have slightly to clearly fused, linear styles. Clearly Trillium simile is closely related to T. vaseyi and T. erectum, but it seems to be a distinct species, though somewhat difficult to identify when not in its most robust condition. J. K. Small (1933) reported Trillium simile to be deliciously fragrant, a quality I have not noticed in my plants. (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. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | T. vaseyi var. simile | ||||
Name authority | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | Gleason: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 33: 391. (1906) | ||||
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