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Trillium ovatum

Pacific trillium, trillium, western trillium, western wake-robin, western white trillium, white or western trillium, white trillium

Rhizomes

semierect to horizontal, short, stout, praemorse.

Scapes

1–2, round, 2–5 dm, ± slender, glabrous.

Flower

erect or nodding, odorless;

sepals spreading to horizontal, green, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 15–50 × 6–20 mm, margins entire, apex acute;

petals erect-ascending, usually wide-spreading from base, exposing entire pistil, white or with pink or blush markings, lacking V-shaped markings, fading to rosy pink, purple, or dark red, veins not deeply engraved, ± linear to widely obovate, 1.5–7 ×1–4 cm, widest at or above middle, thin-textured, margins flat to undulate, apex acuminate;

stamens prominent, slightly recurved-spreading to straight, 10–18 mm;

filaments white, shorter than anthers, slender;

anthers yellow, 4–16 mm, slender, dehiscence latrorse-introrse;

ovary green or white, ovoid, 6-angled, 5–12 mm, attachment ± 3/4 ovary width;

stigmas recurved, barely connate basally, greenish white or white, linear, not lobed adaxially, 6–10 mm, uniformly thin;

pedicel erect to leaning, 2–6 cm.

pedicellate except subsessile or sessile in T. pusillum var. virginianum.

Fruits

baccate, green or white, ± odorless, broadly ovoid, obscurely winged, 1.2–2.8 × 0.7–1.9 cm, pulpy-moist.

Bract(s)

sessile, subsessile, or short-petiolate;

blade medium green, sometimes blotched and mottled, main veins prominent, ovate-rhombic, 7–12 × 5–20 cm, continuing to expand during anthesis, base rounded, apex acuminate.

blades not mottled (except sometimes in T. ovatum).

Petals

wide-spreading, white, reddish purple, or cream, sometimes with patterns of another color.

2n

= 10.

Trillium ovatum

Trillium subg. Trillium

Distribution
from USDA
w North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 15 (15 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Bracts sessile; petals lanceolate to obovate, 1.5–7 × 1–4 cm
var. ovatum
1. Bracts distinctly short-petiolate; petals linear to linear-lanceolate, 0.5–2.4 × 0.2–0.6 cm
var. oettingeri
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 100. FNA vol. 26, p. 96.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium Liliaceae > Trillium
Sibling taxa
T. albidum, T. angustipetalum, T. catesbaei, T. cernuum, T. chloropetalum, T. cuneatum, T. decipiens, T. decumbens, T. discolor, T. erectum, T. flexipes, T. foetidissimum, T. gracile, T. grandiflorum, T. kurabayashii, T. lancifolium, T. ludovicianum, T. luteum, T. maculatum, T. nivale, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. sessile, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
Subordinate taxa
T. ovatum var. oettingeri, T. ovatum var. ovatum
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 245. (1814) unknown
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