Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium vaseyi |
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giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
sweet beth, sweet trillium, sweet wakerobin, Vasey's trillium |
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Rhizomes | ± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
short, stout, praemorse. |
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Scapes | 1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
1–2 per rhizome terminus, round in cross section, 3–6.5 dm, ± slender to 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 rhombic, 10–20 × 6–20 cm, often wider than long, 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. |
carried beneath bracts, odor faintly sweet; sepals spreading, pale green, lanceolate-acuminate, 25–50 × 6–18 mm, margins involute, apex acuminate; petals spreading to recurved distally, adaxially crimson, maroon-red, or brownish red, abaxially paler, grayish pink or rose, veins engraved, ovate-suborbicular, 3–6.5 × 4–6 cm, somewhat fleshy, base rounded and overlapping, margins entire, apex acute; stamens conspicuous, ± erect to weakly recurved, 15–25 mm, longer than pistil at anthesis; filaments grayish purple to blackish purple, longer than anthers, 5–12 mm, slender; anthers weakly recurving, grayish purple to maroon, slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives purple, barely equaling anther sacs; ovary small, maroon or dark reddish purple, ± globose to conical-pyramidal, 6-ridged, 3–12 mm, basal attachment less than ovary width; stigmas erect, recurved, distinct, gray-purple, not lobed adaxially, basally widened, ± linear distally, 2.5–6.5 mm, fleshy; pedicel horizontal to declined-drooping, ± straight, 2–13 cm. |
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Fruits | red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
dark reddish maroon, ovoid, obtusely angled, relatively small, 1–1.4 × 1–2 cm, pulpy. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium chloropetalum |
Trillium vaseyi |
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Phenology | Flowering mid–late spring (late Apr–early Jun). | |||||
Habitat | Rich woods, often on steep slopes, ravines, stream banks, and deep, wind-sheltered, moist coves | |||||
Elevation | 300–700 m (1000–2300 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.) |
Although sometimes submerged within Trillium erectum, T. vaseyi has a later blooming season, a nodding flower of much larger size, a sweet fragrance, and cove habitat unlike that of T. erectum. In my garden hybridization experiments, T. vaseyi hybrids have different color patterns than T. erectum hybrids. Trillium vaseyi is clearly a distinct species. It frequently hybridizes with T. rugelii. (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. 105. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | T. erectum var. vaseyi | ||||
Name authority | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | Harbison: Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1: 24. (1901) | ||||
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