Trillium foetidissimum
Trillium pusillum
fetid trillium, Mississippi River wakerobin, stinking trillium
dwarf trillium, dwarf wakerobin, least trillium, little trillium
horizontal, brownish, thick, short, praemorse, not brittle.
horizontal, branching, thin.
1–2, green to maroon, round in cross section, 0.8–2.8 dm, papillose basally.
1–2, round in cross section, 0.7–2 dm, slender, becoming taller and more robust after flowering, glabrous.
often carried quite horizontally, well above ground, sessile;
blade light green or bronze-green, strongly mottled in dark green with central light green stripe, mottling becoming obscure with age but less so than in most species, elliptic-ovate, rarely ± orbicular, 6.7–12 × 3.8–6 cm, not glossy, base evenly tapered to broad attachment, apex obtuse-acute.
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.
borne directly on bracts, odor of putrid meat, especially when in strong sunlight;
sepals displayed above bracts, carried almost horizontally, green or green streaked with dark maroon, lanceolate, 16–40 × 4–6 mm, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute;
petals long-lasting, erect, very gradually incurved from base to apex, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, pinkish purple, light to reddish purple, brownish purple, rarely yellow, fading to brownish tones with age, not spirally twisted, not inrolling with age, veins not engraved, narrowly elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 2–5 × 0.3–0.5 cm, thick-textured, not glossy, margins entire, flat, acute at apex;
stamens relatively prominent, erect, 9–25 mm;
filaments dark maroon, 3–6 mm, dilated basally;
anthers straight, dark maroon-black, 8–15 mm, dehiscence introrse;
connectives straight, extended 1–1.5 mm beyond anther sacs;
ovary red-purple, ovoid, hexagonal in cross section, 5–12 mm, broadly attached;
stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, dark purple, subulate, nearly as long as ovary, fleshy.
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.
purplish brown, ovoid, 6-angled at least apically, fleshy.
white or pale greenish, ovate, 1–1.5 cm, pulpy, moist but not juicy.
= 10.
Trillium foetidissimum
Trillium pusillum
Trillium foetidissimum seems tolerant of a wide range of soil moistures and types, from low, swampy woods to high, dry bluffs and ravine slopes. This is the only Trillium known to occur within its Louisiana range (J. D. Freeman 1975). Freeman considered it to be closely related to T. sessile.
(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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