Trillium underwoodii |
Trillium maculatum |
|
---|---|---|
longbract wakerobin, Underwood's trillium |
spotted trillium, spotted wakerobin |
|
Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
Scapes | 1–2, round in cross section, 0.8-2 dm, slender to stout, glabrous. |
1–3, round in cross section, 1.4–4 dm, slender to stout, 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. |
held well above ground, tips only touching ground in early anthesis, sessile; blade dark green, mottling darker, mottled to varying degrees, mottling becoming obscure with age, broadly ovate-elliptic to elliptic, 7–15 × 4.6–6.7 cm, not glossy, apex rounded or barely acuminate. |
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, odor faintly spicy and bananalike; sepals displayed above bracts, spreading almost to horizontal, often suffused or streaked with purple-maroon, lanceolate-linear, 22–50 × 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex rounded-acute, recurving slightly; petals long-lasting, spreading-erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary or sometimes slightly spreading early, only partially obscuring stamens, becoming more erect and even touching in the manner of Trillium cuneatum when older, clear dark red-maroon, or reddish purple, without muddy or brown tones of many purple sessile species, or, rarely, purple basally and yellow toward apex, or clear sulfur yellow, not spirally twisted, narrowly oblanceolate-spatulate to linear-spatulate, widest above middle, narrowing to apex, 4–7 × 0.7–1.7 cm, thick-textured, margins entire, slightly involute in proximal 1/2, apex acute to round-acute; stamens erect, 12–20 mm; filaments dark purple, 2–3 mm, widest at base, much shorter than anther sacs; anthers erect, straight, brownish purple, 10–16 mm, dehiscence introrse on broad connective; connectives brown-purple, straight, essentially not extended beyond anther sacs; ovary dark purple, ovoid, weakly 3-angled to smooth (rarely very obscurely 6-angled), angles often obscured in large, turgid ovary, 8–11 mm; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, purplish, subulate, 2–4 mm, fleshy. |
Fruits | baccate, purple-black to dull greenish maroon, odorless, ovoid to obovoid, 6-angled (-ridged), 0.7–1 cm diam., pulpy, not juicy. |
dark purplish green, odor not reported, ovoid, obscurely 3- to 6-angled, bearing persistent stigma, 1 × 2 cm, pulpy. |
Trillium underwoodii |
Trillium maculatum |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid winter–spring (late Feb–mid Apr). | Flowering mid winter–early spring (early Feb–early Apr). |
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 | Rich mesic forests, particularly banks and bluffs of rivers, floodplains, often where quite brushy, rich soils, calcareous soils, alluvium |
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA
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AL; FL; GA; SC
|
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.) |
In their account of the Carolinas flora, A. E. Radford et al. (1968) did not treat Trillium maculatum or give any explanation of why they omitted this species, which is fairly widely distributed in southeastern South Carolina and morphologically is one of the more distinct sessile trilliums. Many color forms occur and have been named. In forma luteum J. D. Freeman, for example, all floral organs lack purple pigment, and the petals are clear, soft yellow, whereas forma simulans J. D. Freeman has yellow petals with purple bases, and purple stamens and carpels. These are illustrated in color in F. W. Case and R. B. Case (1997). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 116. | FNA vol. 26, p. 112. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 172. (1897) | Rafinesque: Med. Fl. 2: 103. (1830) |
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