Trillium underwoodii
Trillium vaseyi
longbract wakerobin, Underwood's trillium
sweet beth, sweet trillium, sweet wakerobin, Vasey's trillium
horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle.
short, stout, praemorse.
1–2, round in cross section, 0.8-2 dm, slender to stout, glabrous.
1–2 per rhizome terminus, round in cross section, 3–6.5 dm, ± slender to stout, glabrous.
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.
sessile to subsessile;
blade rhombic, 10–20 × 6–20 cm, often wider than long, not glossy, base attenuate, apex acuminate.
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.
carried beneath bracts, odor faintly sweet;
sepals spreading, pale green, lanceolate-acuminate, 25–50 × 6–18 mm, margins involute, apex acuminate;
petals spreading to recurved distally, adaxially crimson, maroon-red, or brownish red, abaxially paler, grayish pink or rose, veins engraved, ovate-suborbicular, 3–6.5 × 4–6 cm, somewhat fleshy, base rounded and overlapping, margins entire, apex acute;
stamens conspicuous, ± erect to weakly recurved, 15–25 mm, longer than pistil at anthesis;
filaments grayish purple to blackish purple, longer than anthers, 5–12 mm, slender;
anthers weakly recurving, grayish purple to maroon, slender, dehiscence introrse;
connectives purple, barely equaling anther sacs;
ovary small, maroon or dark reddish purple, ± globose to conical-pyramidal, 6-ridged, 3–12 mm, basal attachment less than ovary width;
stigmas erect, recurved, distinct, gray-purple, not lobed adaxially, basally widened, ± linear distally, 2.5–6.5 mm, fleshy;
pedicel horizontal to declined-drooping, ± straight, 2–13 cm.
baccate, purple-black to dull greenish maroon, odorless, ovoid to obovoid, 6-angled (-ridged), 0.7–1 cm diam., pulpy, not juicy.
dark reddish maroon, ovoid, obtusely angled, relatively small, 1–1.4 × 1–2 cm, pulpy.
= 10.
Trillium underwoodii
Trillium vaseyi
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.)
Although sometimes submerged within Trillium erectum, T. vaseyi has a later blooming season, a nodding flower of much larger size, a sweet fragrance, and cove habitat unlike that of T. erectum. In my garden hybridization experiments, T. vaseyi hybrids have different color patterns than T. erectum hybrids. Trillium vaseyi is clearly a distinct species. It frequently hybridizes with T. rugelii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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