Trillium discolor |
Trillium kurabayashii |
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mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade |
giant purple wakerobin |
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Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
horizontal, brownish, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
Scapes | 1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous. |
often 2 from single terminal bud, round in cross section, 2.5–5.5 dm, stout, 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. |
held well above ground, sessile; blade bright green (in early anthesis rather succulent in appearance), usually well-marked with lighter and darker green spots, occasionally obscurely or scarcely mottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to broadly ovate, 11–18 × 12–17 cm, somewhat glossy, apex 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. |
odor spicy in fresh flowers, becoming fetid in older flowers; sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, divergent, green, purple-streaked, lanceolate, 40–75 × 10–14 mm, margins entire, apex acute to round-acute; petals long-lasting, conspicuous, spreading-erect to erect, tips incurving slightly, ± connivent, partially to completely concealing stamens and ovary, glossy dark maroon-red or purple, not spirally twisted, flat, oblanceolate, 5.5–11 × 2–3.5 cm, widest at or below middle, glossy, thick-textured, cuneate basally, margins ± flat, entire, apex round-acute; stamens erect, straight, 15–26 mm, slightly concealing ovary; filaments dark purple, 2–4 mm; anthers dark maroon, 13–24 mm, dehiscence introrse; connectives straight, barely extended beyond anther sacs; ovary inconspicuous, purple, ovoid, round to 6-angled, 8–15 mm; stigmas erect, distinct, subulate, 6–8 mm, fleshy, thickened basally. |
Fruits | baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy. |
dark reddish purple, ovoid to ellipsoid or weakly angled, 20–50 mm, fleshy. |
2n | = 10. |
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Trillium discolor |
Trillium kurabayashii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (mid Apr–early May). | Flowering spring (late Mar–early May). |
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 | Rich, moist conifer-hardwood forest, slopes, especially lower slopes, predominantly deciduous flat woods along streams, edges of Sequoia groves, and alder, vine maple, and fern thickets along streams, especially older, higher flood terraces, not the lowest and wettest, at higher elevations, both in forests and in open grassy meadows with scattered oak trees |
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | 20–500+ m (100–1600+ ft) |
Distribution |
GA; NC; SC
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CA; OR
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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.) |
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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: 56, fig. 12. (1975) |
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