Trillium discolor |
Trillium subg. Phyllantherum |
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mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade |
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Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
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Scapes | 1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous. |
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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. |
sessile. |
Fruits | baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy. |
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Bract(s) | 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. |
blades green, variously mottled in darker green or bronze, except not mottled in T. petiolatum. |
Petals | ± erect, except spreading in T. stamineum, mostly dark purple, maroon, yellow, green, or white, sometimes bicolored (dark basally). |
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2n | = 10. |
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Trillium discolor |
Trillium subg. Phyllantherum |
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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 |
GA; NC; SC
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e United States; nw United States |
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.) |
Species 23 (23 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 109. | FNA vol. 26, p. 106. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | T. Wray ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 58: plate 3097. (1831) | Rafinesque: J. Phys. Chim. Hist. Nat. Arts 91: 72. (1820) |
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