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mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade

Trillium ovatum

Pacific trillium, trillium, western trillium, western wake-robin, western white trillium, white or western trillium, white trillium

Rhizomes

horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.

semierect to horizontal, short, stout, praemorse.

Scapes

1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous.

1–2, round, 2–5 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.

sessile, subsessile, or short-petiolate;

blade medium green, sometimes blotched and mottled, main veins prominent, ovate-rhombic, 7–12 × 5–20 cm, continuing to expand during anthesis, base rounded, 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.

erect or nodding, odorless;

sepals spreading to horizontal, green, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 15–50 × 6–20 mm, margins entire, apex acute;

petals erect-ascending, usually wide-spreading from base, exposing entire pistil, white or with pink or blush markings, lacking V-shaped markings, fading to rosy pink, purple, or dark red, veins not deeply engraved, ± linear to widely obovate, 1.5–7 ×1–4 cm, widest at or above middle, thin-textured, margins flat to undulate, apex acuminate;

stamens prominent, slightly recurved-spreading to straight, 10–18 mm;

filaments white, shorter than anthers, slender;

anthers yellow, 4–16 mm, slender, dehiscence latrorse-introrse;

ovary green or white, ovoid, 6-angled, 5–12 mm, attachment ± 3/4 ovary width;

stigmas recurved, barely connate basally, greenish white or white, linear, not lobed adaxially, 6–10 mm, uniformly thin;

pedicel erect to leaning, 2–6 cm.

Fruits

baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy.

baccate, green or white, ± odorless, broadly ovoid, obscurely winged, 1.2–2.8 × 0.7–1.9 cm, pulpy-moist.

2n

= 10.

= 10.

Trillium discolor

Trillium ovatum

Phenology Flowering spring (mid Apr–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
Elevation 100–200 m (300–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Bracts sessile; petals lanceolate to obovate, 1.5–7 × 1–4 cm
var. ovatum
1. Bracts distinctly short-petiolate; petals linear to linear-lanceolate, 0.5–2.4 × 0.2–0.6 cm
var. oettingeri
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 109. FNA vol. 26, p. 100.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium
Sibling taxa
T. albidum, T. angustipetalum, T. catesbaei, T. cernuum, T. chloropetalum, T. cuneatum, T. decipiens, T. decumbens, T. erectum, T. flexipes, T. foetidissimum, T. gracile, T. grandiflorum, T. kurabayashii, T. lancifolium, T. ludovicianum, T. luteum, T. maculatum, T. nivale, T. ovatum, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. sessile, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
T. albidum, T. angustipetalum, T. catesbaei, T. cernuum, T. chloropetalum, T. cuneatum, T. decipiens, T. decumbens, T. discolor, T. erectum, T. flexipes, T. foetidissimum, T. gracile, T. grandiflorum, T. kurabayashii, T. lancifolium, T. ludovicianum, T. luteum, T. maculatum, T. nivale, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. sessile, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
Subordinate taxa
T. ovatum var. oettingeri, T. ovatum var. ovatum
Name authority T. Wray ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 58: plate 3097. (1831) Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 245. (1814)
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