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sessile trillium, sessile-flower wake-robin, toad trillium, toadshade

persistent wakerobin

Rhizomes

horizontal, brownish, thick, praemorse, fleshy.

horizontal to erect, short, praemorse.

Scapes

1–3, round in cross section, 0.8–2.5 dm, slender to stout, glabrous.

1–2, round in cross section, 2–3 dm, slender, glabrous.

Bracts

held well above ground, sessile;

blade green to bluish green, strongly to sparsely mottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, oval to suborbicular, 4–10 × 2–8 cm, base broadly attached, apex rounded-acuminate to bluntly parallel sided-acuminate (rounded basally to its broad attachment).

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.

Flower

erect, odor pungent, spicy;

sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, green, variously streaked with maroon, lanceolate-oblanceolate, 9–35 × 4–8 mm, margins entire, apex rounded-acuminate;

petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, maroon, brownish maroon, green, or yellowish green, not spirally twisted, oblanceolate to elliptic, occasionally almost orbicular, 1.7–3.5 × 0.7–2 cm, thick-textured, narrowed near basal attachment (but not truly clawed), margins entire, apex gradually rounded-tapered to acute;

stamens straight, 10–23 mm;

filaments red-purple, 2–5 mm, dilated basally;

anthers erect, straight, gray-purple, 9–16 mm, thick, dehiscence introrse;

connectives purplish brown, straight, projecting 2–5+ mm beyond anther sacs;

ovary greenish white basally, purple distally, ovoid to globose, 6-angled, pyramidally narrowed to stigmas, 4–8.5 mm;

stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, purple, subulate, 1–5 mm, ± fleshy.

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.

Fruits

baccate, dark greenish purple, odorless, subglobose, 6-angled, angles somewhat winglike, pulpy, not juicy.

baccate, greenish white, 6-angled, pulpy, not juicy.

2n

= 10.

Trillium sessile

Trillium persistens

Phenology Flowering spring (Mar–early May). Flowering spring (early Mar–mid Apr).
Habitat Rich woodlands, limestone districts, calcareous soils, floodplains, riverbanks, clayey alluvium, less fertile soils, high, dry limestone woods, persists under light pasturing, in fencerows and brushy areas after lumbering Humus soils in mixed deciduous-pine woodlands, along stream flats and at edges of Rhododendron thickets, occasionally in open Vaccinium-filled clearings
Elevation 100–300 m (300–1000 ft) 50 m (200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; IL; IN; KS; KY; MD; MI; MO; NC; NY; OH; OK; PA; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
GA; SC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Trillium sessile is rather uniform throughout its range, with few color forms.

(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.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 115. FNA vol. 26, p. 101.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. 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. ovatum, T. parviflorum, T. persistens, T. petiolatum, T. pusillum, T. recurvatum, T. reliquum, T. rivale, T. rugelii, T. simile, T. stamineum, T. sulcatum, T. underwoodii, T. undulatum, T. vaseyi, T. viride, T. viridescens
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. ovatum, T. parviflorum, 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
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 340. (1753) W. H. Duncan: Rhodora 73: 244. (1971)
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