Trillium erectum |
Trillium lancifolium |
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birthwort, red trillium, red wakerobin, stinking Benjamin, stinking willie, wake-robin |
lance-leaf trillium, lanceleaf wakerobin |
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Scapes | 1–2, often with numerous offsets forming heavy clumps, round in cross section, 1.5–6 dm, ± robust, glabrous. |
1–2, round in cross section, 1.5–3.2 dm, ca. 2.5–3 times longer than bracts, 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. |
often downturned but leaves held well away from ground, sessile; blade mottled darker green, mottling becoming obscure in age, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, 5–8.3 × 2–3.3 cm, not glossy, apex blunt or 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. |
erect, no odor reported; sepals recurved basally and declining to ± same plane of and alternating with leaves, green, lanceolate, 13–20 × 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, not fully concealing stamens and ovary, maroon-red, purple, greenish tan, or 2-colored, claw dark reddish maroon basally, often twisted, linear to narrowly spatulate, 2.8–6.6 × 20–40 cm, widest above middle, thick-textured, basally clawed, margins entire, apex acute, claw to ± 1/2 as long as expanded limb; stamens incurved, 13–21 mm; filaments purple, slender; anthers weakly to strongly incurved, purple, 4–6 mm, ± slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives weakly to strongly incurved, purple, extending 1 mm beyond anthers; ovary dark purple, ovoid-rhomboid, 6-angled, 6–7 mm; stigmas erect, somewhat divergent-recurved, distinct, purple, nearly linear, obscurely subulate, 3–4 mm, weakly fleshy. |
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Fruits | dark maroon, weakly fragrant of fruit, ± globose to slightly pyramidal, 1–1.6 × 1–1.5 cm, juicy. |
baccate, purplish, odorless, 6-angled, prolonged angle folds making fruit appear almost winged, 0.7–1.2 cm, pulpy. |
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Rhizome(s) | short, thick, praemorse. |
horizontal, white, very slender-elongated, brittle; internodes elongated. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium erectum |
Trillium lancifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering later winter–spring (Feb–early May). | |||||
Habitat | Alluvial soils, floodplains, rocky upland woodlands, brushy thickets, canebrakes, heavy shade, or thin, open woods | |||||
Elevation | 20–200 m (100–700 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
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AL; FL; GA; SC; TN |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trillium lancifolium occurs mostly in small, regionally disjunct populations. (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. 111. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 340. (1753) | Rafinesque: Autik. Bot., 132. (1840) | ||||
Web links |