Trillium decumbens |
Trillium chloropetalum |
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decumbent trillium, trailing wakerobin |
giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
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Rhizomes | short, thick. |
± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
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Scapes | 1–2, decumbent, usually by an S-shaped curvature, round in cross section, 0.5–2 dm, somewhat stout, slightly expanded toward bracts, densely puberulent, especially just below bracts and on bases of main bract veins beneath. |
1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
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Bracts | appearing early in season, in good condition for only a few weeks after anthesis, dying back to semipersistent bases early, resting on ground surface, sessile; blade strongly mottled in shades of green and bronze and with silvery overlay, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to suborbicular, 4–12 × 3.3–7 cm, apex acute to rounded. |
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. |
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Flower | erect, odor unreported; sepals divergent, green- or maroon-streaked, lanceolate-ovate, 22–48 × 9–14 mm, margins entire, flat, apex acute; petals long-lasting, rigidly erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, dark maroon-purple when fresh, fading especially distally to dull reddish brown, greenish brown, or with creamy yellow tones, very rarely pale lemon yellow forms occur, twisted (but not spiraled), linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4–8+ × 0.7–1 cm, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute; stamens erect, straight, dark purple, 10–25 mm; filaments dark purple, 2–5 mm; anthers straight, dark purple, 9–20 mm, dehiscence extrorse; connectives broad, extending to 3.5–4 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary dark purple, oval, 6-angled, 5–10 mm; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, sessile, pink or white, subulate, 4.5–8 mm. |
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. |
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Fruits | baccate, dark purple, broadly ovoid to subglobose, crownlike, strongly ridged, 1–1.5 × 1 cm, pulpy but not juicy, present and enlarging on naked scapes until early autumn. |
red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium decumbens |
Trillium chloropetalum |
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Phenology | Flowering late winter–spring (mid Mar–Apr). | |||||
Habitat | Thin, open rocky wooded slopes, mature deciduous woodlands, rocky talus and disintegrating shale, flats (floodplains) of small streams and adjacent slopes near river entrance | |||||
Elevation | 50–200 m (200–700 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; GA; TN
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CA
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Discussion | Trillium decumbens occurs in the Ridge and Valley and Cumberland Plateau physiographic provinces. It has a large, deep, horizontal rhizome, the growing point of which always faces downslope. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 109. | FNA vol. 26. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | |||||
Name authority | Harbison: Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1: 158. (1902) | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | ||||
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