Trillium discolor
Trillium persistens
mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade
persistent wakerobin
horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.
horizontal to erect, short, praemorse.
1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous.
1–2, round in cross section, 2–3 dm, slender, glabrous.
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.
horizontal to drooping distally, sessile;
blade 3–5-veined, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–8.5+ × 1.5–3.5 cm, adaxial surface faintly glossy, rarely with ± 2 mm, winged, petiolelike base, apex acuminate.
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 above bracts;
sepals spreading, green, elliptic to narrowly ovate, 11–22 × 5–6 mm, thin-textured, margins entire, apex acute;
petals erect proximally, spreading distally, white, fading to deep pink with inverted V-shaped basal portion remaining white, veins not engraved, linear-elliptic to occasionally linear, 2–3.5 × 0.5–1 cm, thin-textured, margins undulate at least in distal portion, apex acute;
stamens prominent, erect to divergent, straight, 9–14 mm;
filaments ± equaling anthers;
anthers straight, yellow or white, dehiscence introrse;
connective barely longer than anther sacs;
ovary white or greenish white, obovate, very sharply 6-angled, 2.5–6 mm;
style 2–6 mm;
stigmas erect, slightly divergent at tip, delicate, not lobed, shortly connate basally, uniformly thin;
pedicel erect or slightly leaning, 1–3 cm, 1/4–1/2 bract length at anthesis.
baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy.
baccate, greenish white, 6-angled, pulpy, not juicy.
= 10.
Trillium discolor
Trillium persistens
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Listed as a U.S. endangered species, Trillium persistens has appeared as such on a postage stamp. The species is very rare and known only from an approximately four-square-mile area at the head of Tallulah Gorge in Georgia and South Carolina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
