Trillium flexipes
Trillium pusillum
bent trillium, declined trillium, drooping trillium, nodding wakerobin
dwarf trillium, dwarf wakerobin, least trillium, little trillium
somewhat erect, thick, praemorse.
horizontal, branching, thin.
1–several from single rhizome, round in cross section, 2–5 dm, glabrous.
1–2, round in cross section, 0.7–2 dm, slender, becoming taller and more robust after flowering, glabrous.
sessile;
blade medium green without red or maroon undertones, rhombic, 7–25 × 7–25 cm, frequently wider than long, base attenuate from just above middle, apex acuminate.
very short-petiolate, subsessile or sessile;
blade dark green with maroon undertones when young, not mottled, 3–5 major veins from base, oblong to lanceolate-obtuse, 2.5–8+ × 1–3 cm, not glossy, apex obtuse.
flexed ca. 90° on summit of pedicel to face outward rather than upward, or variously carried on strongly declined pedicels;
sepals weakly recurved, green, lanceolate, 14–45 mm, shorter than or barely equaling petals, margins entire, apex acuminate;
petals flat or recurved in distal 1/2, creamy white, not 2-colored, veins conspicuously engraved, ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate, 2–5 × 1–4 cm, texture heavy, margins entire, apex acute;
stamens large, ± erect, 9–23 mm;
filaments white, less than 1/2 anther length, thin;
anthers straight or very slightly recurving, creamy white or yellow, 5–18 mm, thick, dehiscence ± introrse;
ovary white, ovoid to flask-shaped, strongly 6-angled, 5–16 × 4–12 mm, widely attached basally;
stigmas recurved, distinct but closely grouped, white, not lobed adaxially, linear-subulate, short, thick, 4–13 mm, ± equaling ovary, fleshy;
pedicel stiffly erect, carried horizontally, or declined beneath bracts, rarely recurved, 4–12 cm.
above bracts, erect, odorless to faintly sweet, pedicellate or sessile;
sepals conspicuous, spreading to same plane as petals, dark green with maroon undertones when young, oblong-lanceolate, 15–30 × 5–10 mm, margins entire, apex obtuse to strongly rounded;
petals of short duration, spreading-ascending, exposing stamens and ovary, weakly recurved in distal 1/2, white, aging to deep rosy pink abaxially, veins not engraved but major petal veins clearly visible, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–3 × 0.5–1.5 cm, thin-textured, widest above base, margins strongly undulate, quite variable in petal width and degree of undulation between individuals and populations, apex obtuse to weakly acute;
stamens erect-spreading, 8–10 mm;
filaments pinkish purple to white, ± equaling or slightly shorter than anthers, slender;
anthers ± straight, pale lavender or yellow, 3–8(–10) mm, thicker than filaments, dehiscence introrse;
connectives not extended beyond anther sacs;
ovary conspicuous, white, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–8 mm, attachment narrower than ovary;
stigmas confluent with style, greenish white to white, distally 3-lobed, lobes linear (threadlike), long-spreading, 3–12 mm, uniformly thin and threadlike;
pedicel stiffly erect to leaning, 0.5–2 cm, or absent to much reduced.
baccate, rosy red to purplish, fragrant of ripe fruit, ovoid to somewhat pyramidal at summit, strongly angled, 2–3.5 × 1–3 cm, very juicy at maturity.
white or pale greenish, ovate, 1–1.5 cm, pulpy, moist but not juicy.
= 10.
= 10.
Trillium flexipes
Trillium pusillum
Although there are no named varieties of Trillium flexipes, many forms exist and at least one has been named, forma walpolei (Farwell) Fernald. F. W. Case and G. L. Burrows (1962) mapped the occurrence of forma walpolei for Michigan and found it to occur only along the contact zone between T. flexipes and T. erectum. F. W. Case and R. B. Case (1993) crossed typical T. erectum and T. flexipes to produce identical color variations as occur in these wild, mixed-species populations. I consider this form to be a hybrid expression. Some of the hybrids have petals colored proximally and white distally, superficially resembling T. undulatum. Dried specimens, when hastily examined, resemble T. undulatum superficially and probably account for reports of that species from locations near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and various places in Indiana and Illinois, all of which are well out of the range of T. undulatum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Trillium pusillum comprises widely disjunct, regional populations, each varying somewhat from the others and variable within itself as well. Some of these populations have been named as varieties or separate species. In the wild, the plants that have been recognized as var. ozarkanum generally grow taller than others and are said to have bracts with five major veins instead of three. Plants attributed to var. texanum, on the other hand, are generally smaller in all parts, with narrower petals, and often revert to a single bract when not flowering. Only var. virginianum is easily distinguished at sight by its “sessile” flower. This variety has received extensive study. P. R. Cabe (1995), in a morphological study including statistical analysis, found variation within and between populations. He felt that his results were inconclusive, and also that some of the variation might be environmentally induced. The variation that he found did not correlate with a geographic pattern, and he suggested treating all Virginia populations as var. virginianum, or simply T. pusillum. In a later study, P. R. Cabe and C. R. Werth (1995), using isozyme evidence, obtained like results, and suggested treating all Virginia populations as a single variety pending further investigation. Until there has been such study, of the Virginia plants as well as the rest of the T. pusillum complex, I choose to retain the fairly distinctive and more or less traditionally known var. virginianum, and include all other populations in a broadly circumscribed var. pusillum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Flower pedicillate; pedicel usually 0.5–2 cm. | var. pusillum |
1. Flower sessile or subsessile; pedicel, if present, 0.1–0.3 cm | var. virginianum |
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