Trillium grandiflorum
Trillium persistens
great white trillium, large-flower trillium, trille grandiflore, white trillium, white wake-robin
persistent wakerobin
short, thick, praemorse.
horizontal to erect, short, praemorse.
(1–)2–3(–many), round in cross section, 1.5–3+ dm, thick, glabrous.
1–2, round in cross section, 2–3 dm, slender, glabrous.
sessile or subsessile (occasionally weakly cuneate basally);
blade dark green with maroon overtones early, ovate-rhombic, 12–20 × 8–15 cm, apex acuminate.
horizontal to drooping distally, sessile;
blade 3–5-veined, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–8.5+ × 1.5–3.5 cm, adaxial surface faintly glossy, rarely with ± 2 mm, winged, petiolelike base, apex acuminate.
outfacing, erect, odorless;
sepals spreading, flat, green, very rarely streaked with maroon-purple, lanceolate, 20–55 × 12–23 mm, margins entire, apex acuminate or acute;
petals erect basally, recurving somewhat above middle to produce strongly funnelform corolla, obscuring ovary and base of style, white or rarely pink, without V-shaped or other markings, fading to dull pinkish purple, veins of adaxial surface conspicuous but not appearing engraved, shape variable, lanceolate to oblong, obovate, or, rarely, suborbicular, sides often parallel, 4–7.5 × 2–4 cm, thin-textured, base abruptly attenuate, margins overlapping basally, rolled, undulate-wavy in distal 1/2, apex ± acuminate;
stamens straight or barely recurved, 9–27 mm;
filaments white, much shorter than anthers, relatively thin;
anthers recurving slightly, pale yellow, strongly yellow when pollen exposed, long, 5–16 mm, slender, dehiscence introrse;
ovary inconspicuous, pale green or white, ovoid, 6-angled, 8–18 mm, basal attachment narrower than ovary width;
style barely united for 0.5–2 mm or merely closely grouped and separate;
stigmas erect, becoming spreading, weakly connate basally, pale green-white, uniformly linear, 3–18 mm, equaling or exceeding ovary, slender;
pedicel erect-ascending to strongly erect, 2–8+ cm.
opening above bracts;
sepals spreading, green, elliptic to narrowly ovate, 11–22 × 5–6 mm, thin-textured, margins entire, apex acute;
petals erect proximally, spreading distally, white, fading to deep pink with inverted V-shaped basal portion remaining white, veins not engraved, linear-elliptic to occasionally linear, 2–3.5 × 0.5–1 cm, thin-textured, margins undulate at least in distal portion, apex acute;
stamens prominent, erect to divergent, straight, 9–14 mm;
filaments ± equaling anthers;
anthers straight, yellow or white, dehiscence introrse;
connective barely longer than anther sacs;
ovary white or greenish white, obovate, very sharply 6-angled, 2.5–6 mm;
style 2–6 mm;
stigmas erect, slightly divergent at tip, delicate, not lobed, shortly connate basally, uniformly thin;
pedicel erect or slightly leaning, 1–3 cm, 1/4–1/2 bract length at anthesis.
pale green, odorless, ± globose, obscurely 6-angled, 1.2–1.6 × 0.8–1.4 cm, mealy, moist (not juicy).
baccate, greenish white, 6-angled, pulpy, not juicy.
= 10.
Trillium grandiflorum
Trillium persistens
Most variants of Trillium grandiflorum have green stripes or markings on the petals, many with numerous (4–30+) extra petals and/or bracts, and, often, much-deformed, monstrous characteristics. G. R. Hooper et al. (1971) showed that mycoplasmic organisms were present in all such forms examined, and were absent from normal plants. Most such forms should not be named taxonomically but, unfortunately, many have been. Nearly all of those that I examined represented stages in the development of the mycoplasma infection. Trillium grandiflorum, unlike most trilliums, produces many-petaled “double” forms. Forma roseum Farwell, opening a striking clear salmon-pink, occurs very rarely throughout the range, but is frequent in mixed or pure colonies along the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Listed as a U.S. endangered species, Trillium persistens has appeared as such on a postage stamp. The species is very rare and known only from an approximately four-square-mile area at the head of Tallulah Gorge in Georgia and South Carolina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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