Trillium discolor |
Trillium catesbaei |
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mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade |
bashful trillium, bashful wakerobin, Catesby's trillium |
|
Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
short, tapered to a point distally. |
Scapes | 1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous. |
1–2, round in cross section, 2–4.5 dm, slender, glabrous. |
Bracts | held well above ground, sessile; blade mottled dark green over lighter green, mottling fading or blurring with time, ovate, elliptic to almost circular, 6–13 × 4–7 cm, apex acute to acuminate. |
usually raised somewhat, exposing flower; blade green, often with underlying purplish maroon in well-lighted plants, major veins on adaxial surface deeply engraved, elliptic-ovate, 6.5–15 × 4–8 cm, including elongated, petiolelike base, proximal 1/3 of leaf gradually tapered to base, margins often slightly raised, apex blunt-acute to acuminate. |
Flower | erect, odor faintly pleasant, resembling sweetshrub (Calycanthus sp.); sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, green, oblong-lanceolate, shorter than petals, 20–30 × 7–19 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary to spreading distally, soft pale sulfur-yellow, fading to ± cream, sometimes slightly spirally twisted, widely spatulate, clawed basally, 2.2–5 × 0.9–1.5 cm, thick-textured, margins entire, often upraised adaxially, at least 1 petal with apex strongly apiculate, nipplelike, others with apex apiculate-acuminate; claw green, sometimes obscurely marked or mottled with purple, broadly cuneate; stamens incurved-erect, 8–15 mm; filaments purple, 1–2.5 mm; anthers erect, straight or arcuate, brown, 6.5–14 mm, dehiscence introrse-latrorse; connectives straight, extending 1–2 mm beyond anthers; ovary purplish, ovoid, 6-ridged, 2.5–8.5 mm; stigmas divergent to erect, distinct, purplish white, subulate, short, 2–6 mm, ± fleshy. |
opening at or recurved below bracts, rarely erect; sepals falcate-recurved, green or streaked with purple, linear-lanceolate, 20–45 × 7–8 mm, margins ± flat, apex acuminate; petals falcate-recurved distally, white, pink, or rose, darkening to pink or nonfading with age, veins visible but not appearing engraved, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3.5–5 × 1–2+ cm, thin-textured, bases somewhat imbricated, forming funnel-like tube, margins undulate, apex acuminate; stamens prominent, recurved, 16–25 mm; filaments white, slightly longer and narrower than anthers; anthers recurving, bright yellow, 5–14 mm, thick, dehiscence introrse; ovary inconspicuous, white, angular-ovoid, deeply 6-angled, 4–12 × 3–7 mm, slender, base narrow; style 2–6 mm; stigmas prominent, strongly curled (circinate) to erect, connate basally, pale green or white, not lobed, 4–10 mm, uniformly thin; pedicel deflexed or recurved, rarely erect, angled, 2–4(–5) cm. |
Fruits | baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy. |
baccate, greenish or whitish, ovoid-globose, angles less prominent when mature, 1–1.5 cm diam., pulpy but not juicy. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Trillium discolor |
Trillium catesbaei |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (mid Apr–early May). | Flowering spring–summer (late Mar–early Jun). |
Habitat | Rather acidic to clearly circumneutral or basic soils of mixed deciduous forests, often under oaks, near Rhododendron thickets, or near tangles of Leucothoë on moist stream banks, slopes near streams | Acid soils, open dry or rich woods, laurel and rhododendron thickets, cove forests |
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | 50–800 m (200–2600 ft) |
Distribution |
GA; NC; SC
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AL; GA; NC; SC; TN
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Discussion | Trillium discolor occurs only in the upper drainage of the Savannah River, but it is locally frequent within its limited range. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Elliott, author of Trillium catesbaei, apparently recognized one of its forms separately as T. nervosum. This name is still mentioned in British horticultural and botanical literature, but it is rarely found in U.S. literature. North American botanists treat T. nervosum as a synonym of T. catesbaei. Plants of Trillium catesbaei from deep coves in South Carolina tend to have petals that are deeper pink and longer and wider than those of many other populations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 109. | FNA vol. 26, p. 96. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. affine, T. nervosum, T. stylosum | |
Name authority | T. Wray ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 58: plate 3097. (1831) | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 429. (1817) |
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