Trillium discolor
Trillium underwoodii
mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade
longbract wakerobin, Underwood's trillium
horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.
horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle.
1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous.
1–2, round in cross section, 0.8-2 dm, slender to stout, 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.
usually drooping, often touching ground in early anthesis, sessile;
blade pale silvery green, strongly mottled in 3 or more shades of dark green and bronze, sometimes maroon, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate-lanceolate to obovate, 6.5–12 × 5–7.8 cm, margins of distal 1/3 straight from rounded base to apex, 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.
erect, odor fetid, especially when first open;
sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, green or purple on adaxial surface, lanceolate, 4.5–5 × 8–12 mm, margins entire, flat, apex rounded-acute;
petals long-lasting, erect-spreading, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary or at least partially obscuring stamens, tips ± incurved, dark maroon-red, or purplish red, brownish maroon, or yellowish green, not spirally twisted, oblanceolate to elliptic, 3–5.5+ × 1–1.5 cm, usually 3–4 times longer than wide, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute;
stamens ± erect to weakly incurved, 14–17 mm;
filaments purple, 1–2 mm;
anthers 8–15 mm, thick, dehiscence latrorse;
connectives brown-purple, straight, extended 1–2 mm beyond anther sacs, apex somewhat acute;
ovary purple, ellipsoid, 6-angled, 6.3–11 mm;
stigmas erect, abruptly recurved upon ovary, distinct, purplish, linear, 1.5–5 mm, slightly thickened basally, fleshy.
baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy.
baccate, purple-black to dull greenish maroon, odorless, ovoid to obovoid, 6-angled (-ridged), 0.7–1 cm diam., pulpy, not juicy.
= 10.
Trillium discolor
Trillium underwoodii
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 underwoodii can cause considerable confusion for the beginning student of the genus. In some ways it closely resembles a small-statured T. cuneatum. As T. underwoodii continues to expand after flowering, it may become somewhat taller and less “ground hugging,” and it then appears similar to a smaller plant of T. decipiens, which grows in parts of the same range, especially when its bracts do not touch the ground at anthesis. It also has vague similarities to T. reliquum, with which it grows sympatrically in parts of its range. Care should be taken to observe the details of floral structure accurately.
Distribution of Trillium underwoodii is much more restricted than that given by J. K. Small (1933), who indicated a range extending from Alabama to North Carolina and Arkansas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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