Trillium kurabayashii |
Trillium simile |
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giant purple wakerobin |
confusing trillium, jeweled wakerobin, sweet white trillium |
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Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
forming clumps, stout, praemorse. |
Scapes | often 2 from single terminal bud, round in cross section, 2.5–5.5 dm, stout, glabrous. |
1–many, round in cross section, 3–6 dm, stout, glabrous. |
Bracts | held well above ground, sessile; blade bright green (in early anthesis rather succulent in appearance), usually well-marked with lighter and darker green spots, occasionally obscurely or scarcely mottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to broadly ovate, 11–18 × 12–17 cm, somewhat glossy, apex acuminate. |
sessile to subsessile; blade green, major veins prominent, rhombic, 10–18 × 10–20 cm, not glossy, tapered basally, apex short-acuminate. |
Flower | odor spicy in fresh flowers, becoming fetid in older flowers; sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, divergent, green, purple-streaked, lanceolate, 40–75 × 10–14 mm, margins entire, apex acute to round-acute; petals long-lasting, conspicuous, spreading-erect to erect, tips incurving slightly, ± connivent, partially to completely concealing stamens and ovary, glossy dark maroon-red or purple, not spirally twisted, flat, oblanceolate, 5.5–11 × 2–3.5 cm, widest at or below middle, glossy, thick-textured, cuneate basally, margins ± flat, entire, apex round-acute; stamens erect, straight, 15–26 mm, slightly concealing ovary; filaments dark purple, 2–4 mm; anthers dark maroon, 13–24 mm, dehiscence introrse; connectives straight, barely extended beyond anther sacs; ovary inconspicuous, purple, ovoid, round to 6-angled, 8–15 mm; stigmas erect, distinct, subulate, 6–8 mm, fleshy, thickened basally. |
above bracts, erect to mostly leaning, odor faintly sweet, applelike; perianth gaping, strongly 3-dimensional; sepals spreading, green, flat, oblanceolate-lanceolate, 20–40 × 6–15 mm, margins entire, apex mildly sulcate; petals spreading-ascending, not recurved to weakly so at tip, creamy white, flat, adaxial veins faintly engraved, ovate to ovate-orbicular, 4–7+ × 1.5–4 cm, 1.5 times as long as sepals, heavy-textured, base rounded, margins entire, apex acuminate; stamens erect to weakly recurved, 7–20 mm; filaments purple or brownish, shorter than anthers, slender; anthers weakly recurved, yellow with brown undertones, 6–20 mm, longer than ovary, slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives purple-brown, not extending beyond anther sacs; ovary dark purplish black, pyramidal at anthesis, very strongly 6-angled, 7–12 mm, widely attached basally; stigmas short, mildly recurved, distinct, purple or yellow, not lobed adaxially, 2–5.5 mm, fleshy, basally widened to gradually tapered; pedicel ± erect to mostly leaning, 4–9 cm. |
Fruits | dark reddish purple, ovoid to ellipsoid or weakly angled, 20–50 mm, fleshy. |
baccate, dark purplish black, odorless, orbicular, 1–1.5 cm diam., fleshy, not juicy. |
Trillium kurabayashii |
Trillium simile |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (late Mar–early May). | Flowering mid spring (Apr–May). |
Habitat | Rich, moist conifer-hardwood forest, slopes, especially lower slopes, predominantly deciduous flat woods along streams, edges of Sequoia groves, and alder, vine maple, and fern thickets along streams, especially older, higher flood terraces, not the lowest and wettest, at higher elevations, both in forests and in open grassy meadows with scattered oak trees | Rich coves of mature forests, edges of Rhododendron thickets and at edges of forests, in moist humus soil |
Elevation | 20–500+ m (100–1600+ ft) | 500–700 m (1600–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
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GA; NC; TN
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Discussion | A recent study of matK gene sequencing (S. Kazempour Osaloo et al. 1999) placed Trillium simile with the T. grandiflorum group and T. catesbaei, which has united styles and white-angled ovaries, not with the T. erectum group. In my opinion, this may reflect an error in labeling samples, for T. simile has the dark, round ovary with three, separate, subulate stigmas and other characteristics of the T. erectum alliance. Also, it hybridizes with T. erectum and other species of that alliance. L. Barksdale (1938) described a complex of forms that he considered to be the result of such hybridization. I have seen such complexes near Maryville, Tennessee, where T. simile and T. erectum forma album occur together with a full range of intergrades between the two. Trillium catesbaei and the species related to T. grandiflorum do not hybridize with any species, and all have slightly to clearly fused, linear styles. Clearly Trillium simile is closely related to T. vaseyi and T. erectum, but it seems to be a distinct species, though somewhat difficult to identify when not in its most robust condition. J. K. Small (1933) reported Trillium simile to be deliciously fragrant, a quality I have not noticed in my plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 110. | FNA vol. 26. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. vaseyi var. simile | |
Name authority | J. D. Freeman: Brittonia 27: 56, fig. 12. (1975) | Gleason: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 33: 391. (1906) |
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