Trillium discolor |
Trillium foetidissimum |
|
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mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade |
fetid trillium, Mississippi River wakerobin, stinking trillium |
|
Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
horizontal, brownish, thick, short, praemorse, not brittle. |
Scapes | 1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous. |
1–2, green to maroon, round in cross section, 0.8–2.8 dm, papillose basally. |
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. |
often carried quite horizontally, well above ground, sessile; blade light green or bronze-green, strongly mottled in dark green with central light green stripe, mottling becoming obscure with age but less so than in most species, elliptic-ovate, rarely ± orbicular, 6.7–12 × 3.8–6 cm, not glossy, base evenly tapered to broad attachment, apex obtuse-acute. |
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. |
borne directly on bracts, odor of putrid meat, especially when in strong sunlight; sepals displayed above bracts, carried almost horizontally, green or green streaked with dark maroon, lanceolate, 16–40 × 4–6 mm, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, very gradually incurved from base to apex, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, pinkish purple, light to reddish purple, brownish purple, rarely yellow, fading to brownish tones with age, not spirally twisted, not inrolling with age, veins not engraved, narrowly elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 2–5 × 0.3–0.5 cm, thick-textured, not glossy, margins entire, flat, acute at apex; stamens relatively prominent, erect, 9–25 mm; filaments dark maroon, 3–6 mm, dilated basally; anthers straight, dark maroon-black, 8–15 mm, dehiscence introrse; connectives straight, extended 1–1.5 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary red-purple, ovoid, hexagonal in cross section, 5–12 mm, broadly attached; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, dark purple, subulate, nearly as long as ovary, fleshy. |
Fruits | baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy. |
purplish brown, ovoid, 6-angled at least apically, fleshy. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Trillium discolor |
Trillium foetidissimum |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (mid Apr–early May). | Flowering late winter–early spring (early Mar [rarely Feb]--early Apr). |
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 | River bluffs, ravines, floodplains, low ground, rich woods, road shoulders, silts, sandy-alluvium, loess soils, drier upland oak and pine woods |
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | 40–50 m (100–200 ft) |
Distribution |
GA; NC; SC
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LA; MS
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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.) |
Trillium foetidissimum seems tolerant of a wide range of soil moistures and types, from low, swampy woods to high, dry bluffs and ravine slopes. This is the only Trillium known to occur within its Louisiana range (J. D. Freeman 1975). Freeman considered it to be closely related to T. sessile. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 109. | FNA vol. 26, p. 110. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | T. Wray ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 58: plate 3097. (1831) | J. D. Freeman: Brittonia 27: 31, fig. 7. (1975) |
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