Trillium flexipes |
Trillium reliquum |
|
---|---|---|
bent trillium, declined trillium, drooping trillium, nodding wakerobin |
confederate wakerobin, relict trillium |
|
Rhizomes | somewhat erect, thick, praemorse. |
short, stout, praemorse. |
Scapes | 1–several from single rhizome, round in cross section, 2–5 dm, glabrous. |
1–2, semidecumbent, decumbent, or weakly erect (especially in cultivation), S-shaped, round in cross section, 0.6–1.8 dm, glabrous. |
Bracts | 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. |
resting on or near ground surface, horizontally spreading, sessile; blade strongly mottled on each side of central light green stripe in shades of light green, dark green, bronze green, and dark purple, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to elliptic, rounded-tapered ± equally from base to tip from widest point, 5–12 × 6–10 cm, apex rounded or weakly acute. |
Flower | 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. |
borne directly on bracts, odor of putrid meat; sepals divergent, somewhat recurved, green, maroon streaked, lanceolate, 17–42 × 5–9.5 mm, margins entire, flat, apex rounded-acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, dark brownish maroon, greenish purple, or streaked with yellow, usually not spirally twisted, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2.5–5.5 × 0.6–1 cm, thick-textured, margins entire, ± flat, apex acute; stamens erect, incurved, 12–20 mm; filaments ± straight, reddish brown, 1–2 mm, slender; anthers ± straight, dark purple, 4–20 mm, ± thick, dehiscence introrse; connectives brown-purple, extending 1–2.5 mm beyond anther sacs, apex acute; ovary green-purple, ovoid, 6-angled, 5–10 mm; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, linear, 2–4 mm, uniformly thin. |
Fruits | 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. |
baccate, dark maroon-purple, fragrance unreported, ovoid, 6-winged or -angled apically, 0.7–1 cm, pulpy, moist. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Trillium flexipes |
Trillium reliquum |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–early Jun). | Flowering late winter–spring (early Mar–Apr). |
Habitat | Rich wooded slopes, floodplains in deciduous forests, especially over limestone | Rich mixed deciduous forested slopes, bluffs, stream-flats, lower slopes at edge of small stream floodplains |
Elevation | 100–600 m (300–2000 ft) | 50–100 m (200–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; DE; IA; IL; IN; KY; MI; MN; MO; NY; OH; PA; SD; TN; VA; WI; WV; ON
|
GA; SC
|
Discussion | 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.) |
Of conservation concern. Trillium reliquum recently has been reported from Alabama; I have not seen specimens from there. Otherwise, the species occurs in Clay, Early, and Richmond counties, Georgia, and in Aiken County, South Carolina. It is currently listed as an endangered species in the United States. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 99. | FNA vol. 26, p. 115. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. declinatum, T. gleasonii | |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Autik. Bot., 133. (1840) | J. D. Freeman: Brittonia 27: 21, fig. 5. (1975) |
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