Trillium erectum |
Trillium gracile |
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birthwort, red trillium, red wakerobin, stinking Benjamin, stinking willie, wake-robin |
graceful trillium, Sabine River wakerobin, slender trillium |
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Rhizomes | short, thick, praemorse. |
horizontal, brownish, thick, short, praemorse, not brittle. |
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Scapes | 1–2, often with numerous offsets forming heavy clumps, round in cross section, 1.5–6 dm, ± robust, glabrous. |
1–3, round in cross section, 1.6–3.5 dm, slender, glabrous. |
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Bracts | sessile; blade bright green, lacking dark pigmentation, major veins prominent, broadly rhombic to ovate-rhombic, 5–20 × 5–20 cm, about as broad as long, widest near middle, base attenuate, apex acuminate. |
held well above ground, sessile; blade mottled with darker green blotches, mottling becoming obscure with age, elliptic-ovate to obovate, 6–8.5 × 2.6–4 cm, base rounded, apex obtuse or rounded, rarely acute. |
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Flower | erect, ascending, or proximal to but above bracts, odor fetid, like a wet dog; perianth open, flat; sepals flat to sulcate apically, green, often streaked or overlain with maroon, occasionally entirely dark maroon, lanceolate-acuminate, 10–50 mm, equaling petals, ± 1/2 petal width, texture leafy, margins entire, apex acuminate; petals spreading, carried in same plane as sepals or ascending slightly, dark reddish brown, maroon, purple, or white, sometimes pale yellow, major adaxial veins prominent and appearing somewhat engraved, usually flat, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or occasionally ovate, 1.5–5 × 1–3 cm, 2 times sepal width, widest near base, heavy-textured, apex acuminate; stamens erect to slightly recurved, 5–15 mm; filaments white, pinkish, or dark purple, ± equaling anthers, but variable within local populations, thin; anthers erect or weakly recurving, dark maroon, grayish maroon, or yellowish, strongly yellow when pollen exposed, 5–12 mm, dehiscence introrse; ovary dark purple to maroon, even in white-flowered forms, ovoid, elliptic to globose, 6-angled, angles forming very low ridges when fruit is ripe, 5–10 mm, broadly attached at base; stigmas recurved, distinct, dark purple, not lobed adaxially, subulate, short, 3–7 mm, ca. 1/2 or less length of ovary at anthesis, fleshy; pedicel straight, erect, or somewhat declined but not strongly recurved below bracts, 1–10+ cm. |
odor musty or funguslike; sepals displayed above bracts, bases at right angle to scape axis, widely spreading with recurved tips, dark purple on adaxial surface, lanceolate to oblong, 20–25 × 4–5 mm, margins entire, apex obtuse; petals long-lasting, erect, weakly connivent, at least partially obscuring stamens, dark purple or maroon, rarely yellow, not spirally twisted, linear-elliptic to oblanceolate, 2–4 × 0.3–0.8 cm, ± thick-textured, margins entire, flat, apex acute; stamens erect, 12–16.5 mm; filaments purple, 2–3 mm, slender; anthers erect, straight, purple to yellow, 10–15 mm, slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives straight, extending 0.1–1 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary purple, ovoid, 3-angled, 4–11 mm; stigmas erect, spreading-recurved, distinct, purple to whitish, sessile, subulate, 2–4 mm, fleshy, thickened basally. |
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Fruits | dark maroon, weakly fragrant of fruit, ± globose to slightly pyramidal, 1–1.6 × 1–1.5 cm, juicy. |
dark greenish purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, swollen enough to conceal its 3-angled nature, 1 cm, pulpy, moist. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Trillium erectum |
Trillium gracile |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (early–mid Apr). | |||||
Habitat | Mature pine and hardwood forests, banks and ridges of dissected stream- beds, rather dense shade, low sandy flatwoods | |||||
Elevation | 0–10 m (0–0 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
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LA; TX
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 98. | FNA vol. 26, p. 110. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 340. (1753) | J. D. Freeman: Sida 3: 289. (1969) | ||||
Web links |