Trillium erectum |
Trillium recurvatum |
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birthwort, red trillium, red wakerobin, stinking Benjamin, stinking willie, wake-robin |
bloody butcher, bloody noses, prairie trillium, prairie wakerobin, toadshade |
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Rhizomes | short, thick, praemorse. |
horizontal, white, slender, elongated, 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. |
typically 1(–3), round in cross section, 1.5–4.8 dm, slender to robust, 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, strongly petiolate; blade at first strongly mottled in darker green or bronze, mottling fading with seasonal expansion after anthesis, rarely all green, ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, 6–18 × 2.5–6.5 cm, not glossy, apex acuminate; petiole ca. 1/5 bract length. |
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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, fragrance not reported; sepals strongly recurved basally and held against scape by turgor pressure, green, sometimes purple-streaked, ovate-lanceolate, 18–35 × 6–18 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, dark maroon purple to clear yellow, occasionally 2-colored with purple and yellow, not spirally twisted, lanceolate to ovate, 1.8–4.8 × 0.9–2 cm, thick-textured, base attenuate to weakly clawed, margins entire, apex acute; stamens incurved, 10–15 mm; filaments erect, dark purple, 4–6 mm, ± slender; anthers strongly incurved above filaments, dark purple, 5–16 mm, ± thick, dehiscence introrse; connectives strongly incurved inward, dark purple, projecting about 1 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary greenish with ± purple stains distally, transversely rhombic to angular-ovate, somewhat 6-angled or -winged, 7–10 mm, ± equaling filament height; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, ± linear, 4–6 mm, slightly 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. |
green to white- and purple-streaked, odorless, rhomboid-ovoid, 6-angled, almost winged, ca. 1 cm diam., pulpy. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium erectum |
Trillium recurvatum |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (late Mar–late May). | |||||
Habitat | Rich clayey floodplain soils, plants often temporarily inundated while in flower, rich moist woods and bluffs, limestone-derived soils | |||||
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
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AL; AR; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MI; MO; MS; OH; TN; TX; WI
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trillium recurvatum has several named color forms, most notably forma shayi E. J. Palmer & Steyermark with clear yellow petals, and one foliose anomaly (possibly caused by mycoplasma). (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. 114. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 340. (1753) | L. C. Beck: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 11: 178. (1826) | ||||
Web links |