Trillium sulcatum
Trillium pusillum
Barksdale trillium, furrowed wakerobin, southern red trillium
dwarf trillium, dwarf wakerobin, least trillium, little trillium
horizontal–slightly erect, thick, praemorse.
horizontal, branching, thin.
1–4+, round in cross section, 3–7 dm, 2–2.5 times as long as bract, stout, glabrous.
1–2, round in cross section, 0.7–2 dm, slender, becoming taller and more robust after flowering, glabrous.
subsessile;
blade obovate to broadly elliptic, 13–20 × 8–22 cm, not glossy, base attenuate, apex acuminate.
very short-petiolate, subsessile or sessile;
blade dark green with maroon undertones when young, not mottled, 3–5 major veins from base, oblong to lanceolate-obtuse, 2.5–8+ × 1–3 cm, not glossy, apex obtuse.
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.
above bracts, erect, odorless to faintly sweet, pedicellate or sessile;
sepals conspicuous, spreading to same plane as petals, dark green with maroon undertones when young, oblong-lanceolate, 15–30 × 5–10 mm, margins entire, apex obtuse to strongly rounded;
petals of short duration, spreading-ascending, exposing stamens and ovary, weakly recurved in distal 1/2, white, aging to deep rosy pink abaxially, veins not engraved but major petal veins clearly visible, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–3 × 0.5–1.5 cm, thin-textured, widest above base, margins strongly undulate, quite variable in petal width and degree of undulation between individuals and populations, apex obtuse to weakly acute;
stamens erect-spreading, 8–10 mm;
filaments pinkish purple to white, ± equaling or slightly shorter than anthers, slender;
anthers ± straight, pale lavender or yellow, 3–8(–10) mm, thicker than filaments, dehiscence introrse;
connectives not extended beyond anther sacs;
ovary conspicuous, white, ovoid, obscurely 6-angled, 2.5–8 mm, attachment narrower than ovary;
stigmas confluent with style, greenish white to white, distally 3-lobed, lobes linear (threadlike), long-spreading, 3–12 mm, uniformly thin and threadlike;
pedicel stiffly erect to leaning, 0.5–2 cm, or absent to much reduced.
red, fragrance of fresh mushrooms, ± globose to pyramidal, 1.5–3 × 1.2–2.8 cm, juicy to pulpy.
white or pale greenish, ovate, 1–1.5 cm, pulpy, moist but not juicy.
= 10.
= 10.
Trillium sulcatum
Trillium pusillum
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).
Trillium pusillum comprises widely disjunct, regional populations, each varying somewhat from the others and variable within itself as well. Some of these populations have been named as varieties or separate species. In the wild, the plants that have been recognized as var. ozarkanum generally grow taller than others and are said to have bracts with five major veins instead of three. Plants attributed to var. texanum, on the other hand, are generally smaller in all parts, with narrower petals, and often revert to a single bract when not flowering. Only var. virginianum is easily distinguished at sight by its “sessile” flower. This variety has received extensive study. P. R. Cabe (1995), in a morphological study including statistical analysis, found variation within and between populations. He felt that his results were inconclusive, and also that some of the variation might be environmentally induced. The variation that he found did not correlate with a geographic pattern, and he suggested treating all Virginia populations as var. virginianum, or simply T. pusillum. In a later study, P. R. Cabe and C. R. Werth (1995), using isozyme evidence, obtained like results, and suggested treating all Virginia populations as a single variety pending further investigation. Until there has been such study, of the Virginia plants as well as the rest of the T. pusillum complex, I choose to retain the fairly distinctive and more or less traditionally known var. virginianum, and include all other populations in a broadly circumscribed var. pusillum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Flower pedicillate; pedicel usually 0.5–2 cm. | var. pusillum |
1. Flower sessile or subsessile; pedicel, if present, 0.1–0.3 cm | var. virginianum |
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