Trillium sulcatum |
Trillium chloropetalum |
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Barksdale trillium, furrowed wakerobin, southern red trillium |
giant purple wakerobin, giant trillium, giant wakerobin, sessile trillium, small-flower trillium |
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Rhizomes | horizontal–slightly erect, thick, praemorse. |
± erect, brownish, somewhat compressed-thickened, superficially bulblike, praemorse, not brittle. |
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Scapes | 1–4+, round in cross section, 3–7 dm, 2–2.5 times as long as bract, stout, glabrous. |
1–3, green, round in cross section, 2–6.5 dm, robust. |
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Bracts | subsessile; blade obovate to broadly elliptic, 13–20 × 8–22 cm, not glossy, base attenuate, apex acuminate. |
held well above ground, sessile (narrowing of bract blade may give bract subsessile appearance); blade densely to weakly mottled in dark brownish green, mottling becoming more obscure to absent as bract matures, broadly ovate, 7–17.6 × 7.4–17.7 cm, not glossy, apex obtuse-rounded. |
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Flower | facing outward at right angle to pedicel, above bracts, odor faintly musty, like fresh fungus; perianth gaping, strongly 3-dimensional; sepals spreading, usually streaked or entirely purplish maroon, occasionally entirely green except on margins, elliptic, 15–38 × 9–15 mm, margins entire, apex strongly sulcate-acuminate; petals carried somewhat forward to recurved-spreading in distal 1/2, usually dark reddish maroon to purplish, rarely cream to soft yellow, pink, white, or 2-colored, heavy-veined, ovate to broadly ovate-overlapping, 1.8–5 × 1–3 cm, heavy-textured, apex acuminate, rarely somewhat sulcate; stamens erect, ± equaling or slightly longer than ovary, 15–18 mm; filaments purple to white, 3–5 mm, slender; anthers straight, purplish to yellow, 5–12 mm, thick, dehiscence introrse; connectives equaling or ± shorter than anther sacs; ovary usually dark purple, globose to flask-shaped, 6-angled, 14–18 mm, broadly attached basally; stigmas prominent, recurved, distinct, purple, not lobed adaxially, basally thickened, gradually tapered, 2–5 mm, fleshy; pedicel usually stiffly erect (rarely almost horizontal above bracts), straight, reflexed ± 90° at tip, 6–11 cm. |
erect, odor roselike, spicy; sepals spreading-ascending above bracts, green, lanceolate, 35–65 × 7–12 mm, margins entire, flat, apex obtusely rounded; petals long-lasting, erect, connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, yellow, bronze, maroon, brown, deep purple, reddish brown, pink, dark purplish red, purplish bronze, rarely greenish white, not spirally twisted, veins not engraved, oblanceolate to obovate, 6.5–10 × 1.5–2.5 cm, thick-textured, base cuneate, margins entire, apex variably acute to almost truncate, erose; stamens erect, purplish, 17–26 mm; filaments purple, ca. 4 mm, widest at base, much shorter than anther sacs; anthers erect, straight, ± purple-brown, 13–22 mm, dehiscence introrse; connectives purple, straight, extended ca. 1–1.5 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary purple, ovoid, 6-angled, 6–12 mm; stigmas small, divergent or erect, distinct, purple, subulate, 4–8 mm, not fleshy. |
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Fruits | red, fragrance of fresh mushrooms, ± globose to pyramidal, 1.5–3 × 1.2–2.8 cm, juicy to pulpy. |
red-purple, fragrance not reported, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–3 cm, pulpy, juicy. |
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2n | = 10. |
= 10. |
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Trillium sulcatum |
Trillium chloropetalum |
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Phenology | Flowering mid spring (Apr–May). | |||||
Habitat | Rich mesic woodlands, especially moist north- or east-facing slopes, wooded ledges and stream banks on neutral to slightly acid soil | |||||
Elevation | 300–400 m (1000–1300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; GA; KY; NC; TN; VA; WV
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CA
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Discussion | Trillium sulcatum is present mainly on the Cumberland Plateau and is absent from the Great Smoky Mountains and the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. T. S. Patrick (1984) described Trillium sulcatum flowers as “relatively small and turned downward.” This is true of plants from the type locality; however, in most plants of the Cumberland Plateau, the flowers are quite large and flattened, and the petals are recurved distally and face outward. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). J. D. Freeman (1975) considered that Trillium chloropetalum differs from T. albidum in having introrse (not latrorse) anther sacs, and that the purple pigments present on anther and ovary tissue here are absent in T. albidum. In some places, hybridization between the two certainly has occurred, and a complete range of intergrades exists. This species merits further study. The following varieties are only weakly differentiated and perhaps ought to be dropped. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 104. | FNA vol. 26. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Trillium | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | T. sessile var. chloropetalum, T. giganteum var. chloropetalum | |||||
Name authority | T. S. Patrick: Brittonia 36: 27, figs. 1–4. (1984) | (Torrey) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 661. (1902) | ||||
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