Trillium vaseyi
sweet beth, sweet trillium, sweet wakerobin, Vasey's trillium
short, stout, praemorse.
1–2 per rhizome terminus, round in cross section, 3–6.5 dm, ± slender to stout, glabrous.
sessile to subsessile;
blade rhombic, 10–20 × 6–20 cm, often wider than long, not glossy, base attenuate, apex acuminate.
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.
dark reddish maroon, ovoid, obtusely angled, relatively small, 1–1.4 × 1–2 cm, pulpy.
= 10.
Trillium vaseyi
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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