Trillium underwoodii |
Trillium lancifolium |
|
---|---|---|
longbract wakerobin, Underwood's trillium |
lance-leaf trillium, lanceleaf wakerobin |
|
Scapes | 1–2, round in cross section, 0.8-2 dm, slender to stout, glabrous. |
1–2, round in cross section, 1.5–3.2 dm, ca. 2.5–3 times longer than bracts, slender, glabrous. |
Bracts | usually drooping, often touching ground in early anthesis, sessile; blade pale silvery green, strongly mottled in 3 or more shades of dark green and bronze, sometimes maroon, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate-lanceolate to obovate, 6.5–12 × 5–7.8 cm, margins of distal 1/3 straight from rounded base to apex, apex acuminate. |
often downturned but leaves held well away from ground, sessile; blade mottled darker green, mottling becoming obscure in age, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, 5–8.3 × 2–3.3 cm, not glossy, apex blunt or acute. |
Flower | erect, odor fetid, especially when first open; sepals displayed above bracts, spreading, green or purple on adaxial surface, lanceolate, 4.5–5 × 8–12 mm, margins entire, flat, apex rounded-acute; petals long-lasting, erect-spreading, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary or at least partially obscuring stamens, tips ± incurved, dark maroon-red, or purplish red, brownish maroon, or yellowish green, not spirally twisted, oblanceolate to elliptic, 3–5.5+ × 1–1.5 cm, usually 3–4 times longer than wide, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute; stamens ± erect to weakly incurved, 14–17 mm; filaments purple, 1–2 mm; anthers 8–15 mm, thick, dehiscence latrorse; connectives brown-purple, straight, extended 1–2 mm beyond anther sacs, apex somewhat acute; ovary purple, ellipsoid, 6-angled, 6.3–11 mm; stigmas erect, abruptly recurved upon ovary, distinct, purplish, linear, 1.5–5 mm, slightly thickened basally, fleshy. |
erect, no odor reported; sepals recurved basally and declining to ± same plane of and alternating with leaves, green, lanceolate, 13–20 × 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, not fully concealing stamens and ovary, maroon-red, purple, greenish tan, or 2-colored, claw dark reddish maroon basally, often twisted, linear to narrowly spatulate, 2.8–6.6 × 20–40 cm, widest above middle, thick-textured, basally clawed, margins entire, apex acute, claw to ± 1/2 as long as expanded limb; stamens incurved, 13–21 mm; filaments purple, slender; anthers weakly to strongly incurved, purple, 4–6 mm, ± slender, dehiscence introrse; connectives weakly to strongly incurved, purple, extending 1 mm beyond anthers; ovary dark purple, ovoid-rhomboid, 6-angled, 6–7 mm; stigmas erect, somewhat divergent-recurved, distinct, purple, nearly linear, obscurely subulate, 3–4 mm, weakly fleshy. |
Fruits | baccate, purple-black to dull greenish maroon, odorless, ovoid to obovoid, 6-angled (-ridged), 0.7–1 cm diam., pulpy, not juicy. |
baccate, purplish, odorless, 6-angled, prolonged angle folds making fruit appear almost winged, 0.7–1.2 cm, pulpy. |
Rhizome(s) | horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
horizontal, white, very slender-elongated, brittle; internodes elongated. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Trillium underwoodii |
Trillium lancifolium |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid winter–spring (late Feb–mid Apr). | Flowering later winter–spring (Feb–early May). |
Habitat | Rich to dryish deciduous forests of mature or second-growth timber, dominated by oaks or with beech-oaks, occasionally with scattered pines present, flat ground along streams where soil can be fairly moist, rich clay or sand | Alluvial soils, floodplains, rocky upland woodlands, brushy thickets, canebrakes, heavy shade, or thin, open woods |
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | 20–200 m (100–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA
|
AL; FL; GA; SC; TN |
Discussion | Trillium underwoodii can cause considerable confusion for the beginning student of the genus. In some ways it closely resembles a small-statured T. cuneatum. As T. underwoodii continues to expand after flowering, it may become somewhat taller and less “ground hugging,” and it then appears similar to a smaller plant of T. decipiens, which grows in parts of the same range, especially when its bracts do not touch the ground at anthesis. It also has vague similarities to T. reliquum, with which it grows sympatrically in parts of its range. Care should be taken to observe the details of floral structure accurately. Distribution of Trillium underwoodii is much more restricted than that given by J. K. Small (1933), who indicated a range extending from Alabama to North Carolina and Arkansas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trillium lancifolium occurs mostly in small, regionally disjunct populations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 116. | FNA vol. 26, p. 111. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 172. (1897) | Rafinesque: Autik. Bot., 132. (1840) |
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