Trillium discolor
Trillium vaseyi
mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, small yellow toadshade
sweet beth, sweet trillium, sweet wakerobin, Vasey's trillium
horizontal, brownish, short or somewhat compressed-thickened, bulblike, praemorse, not brittle.
short, stout, praemorse.
1–2, 1–2.2 dm, slender, essentially glabrous.
1–2 per rhizome terminus, round in cross section, 3–6.5 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.
sessile to subsessile;
blade rhombic, 10–20 × 6–20 cm, often wider than long, not glossy, base attenuate, 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.
carried beneath bracts, odor faintly sweet;
sepals spreading, pale green, lanceolate-acuminate, 25–50 × 6–18 mm, margins involute, apex acuminate;
petals spreading to recurved distally, adaxially crimson, maroon-red, or brownish red, abaxially paler, grayish pink or rose, veins engraved, ovate-suborbicular, 3–6.5 × 4–6 cm, somewhat fleshy, base rounded and overlapping, margins entire, apex acute;
stamens conspicuous, ± erect to weakly recurved, 15–25 mm, longer than pistil at anthesis;
filaments grayish purple to blackish purple, longer than anthers, 5–12 mm, slender;
anthers weakly recurving, grayish purple to maroon, slender, dehiscence introrse;
connectives purple, barely equaling anther sacs;
ovary small, maroon or dark reddish purple, ± globose to conical-pyramidal, 6-ridged, 3–12 mm, basal attachment less than ovary width;
stigmas erect, recurved, distinct, gray-purple, not lobed adaxially, basally widened, ± linear distally, 2.5–6.5 mm, fleshy;
pedicel horizontal to declined-drooping, ± straight, 2–13 cm.
baccate, greenish white, subglobose, weakly 6-winged, 1–5 × 1 cm, pulpy or mealy, not juicy.
dark reddish maroon, ovoid, obtusely angled, relatively small, 1–1.4 × 1–2 cm, pulpy.
= 10.
= 10.
Trillium discolor
Trillium vaseyi
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.)
Although sometimes submerged within Trillium erectum, T. vaseyi has a later blooming season, a nodding flower of much larger size, a sweet fragrance, and cove habitat unlike that of T. erectum. In my garden hybridization experiments, T. vaseyi hybrids have different color patterns than T. erectum hybrids. Trillium vaseyi is clearly a distinct species. It frequently hybridizes with T. rugelii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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