Trillium viride
Trillium cuneatum
green trillium, wood wakerobin
bloody butcher, cuneate trillium, large toadshade, little sweet betsy, purple toadshade, sweet betsy, whip-poor-will flower
horizontal, brownish, short, slender to stout, praemorse, not brittle.
horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle.
1–3, round in cross section, 2.3–3.4+ dm, ± slender, smooth to scabrous below bracts.
1–5, 1.6–4.5 dm, smooth to rough near bract attachment.
held well above ground, sessile;
blade green to bluish green, weakly mottled, rarely unmottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, adaxial surface covered with numerous stomata easily visible under a lens, occasionally visible as tiny white dots to the naked eye, narrowly to broadly elliptic, 8–20.5 × 5–8 cm, not glossy, apex blunt to rounded-acute.
held well above ground, sessile;
blade green to purplish green, weakly to strongly mottled, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate, ovate-elliptic, occasionally ovate-orbicular with margins overlapping, 7–18.5 × 7–13 cm, usually widest below middle, not glossy, base ± rounded, margins of distal 1/3 convex-curved to apex, apex acuminate to acute.
erect, odor of decayed fruit;
sepals displayed above bracts, widely spreading, distal 1/2 often weakly declined, green, lanceolate-acute, 28–60 × 7–9 mm, margins entire, apex acute;
petals long-lasting, erect to widely spreading, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, green, yellowish green, yellow, or variously purple streaked throughout, especially basally (rarely all purplish green), not spirally twisted, narrowly spatulate to linear-spatulate, 3.5–6.8 × 0.5–1.5 cm, widest above middle, thick-textured, base narrowed and thickened, ± forming claw, margins entire, apex obtuse, lacking nipple;
stamens relatively straight-erect to slightly incurved, 15–25 mm;
filaments brown-olive, 3–5.5 mm, dilated basally;
anthers erect, straight, olive-brown or purplish, 8–21 mm, ± slender, dehiscence introrse-latrorse;
connectives olive, straight, very slightly (± 0.5 mm) extended beyond sacs;
ovary greenish basally, olive-purplish distally, ellipsoid to ovoid, deeply angled, 5–12 mm;
stigmas spreading-erect, recurved, distinct, sessile, olive or purplish, subulate, 5–10 mm, somewhat fleshy.
borne upon bracts, erect, odor usually pleasant, faint, spicy, reminiscent of odor of bruised sweetshrub (Calycanthus) leaves, occasionally musty or unpleasant;
sepals widely spreading, variably green, purple-streaked to all purple, oblong-lanceolate, 27–60 × 7–13 mm, margins entire, apex rounded to acute;
petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, maroon, maroon-purple, brownish purple, bronze, greenish purple, clear green, yellowish green, pale lemon yellow, or 2-colored, yellow distally with purple base, in occasional clones, flowers open or quickly fade to bright copper bronze, the particular color pattern is consistent from year to year, fading to browner tones with age except in yellow or green forms, not spirally twisted, shape quite variable across range, elliptic-obovate to oblanceolate, 4–7 × 0.9–2.7 cm, thick-textured, with widest portion at or above middle, narrowed to usually cuneate basally, not clawed, margins flat, entire, apex acute, rounded-acute to obtuse;
stamens erect, straight, brownish purple-green, 11–18 mm;
filaments brownish purple, 1.5–3.5 mm, widest at base;
anthers erect, straight, brownish gray, 7–14 mm, dehiscence latrorse or occasionally introrse;
connectives straight, scarcely (0.5 mm or less) if at all extended beyond anther sacs;
ovary maroon, ovoid to vase-shaped, weakly 6-angled or -ridged when mature, 12–15 mm;
stigmas erect, slightly diverging to spreading, distinct, purplish gray, linear-subulate to thickly subulate, 4–15 mm, fleshy.
greenish white, odorless, ovoid, angled, 1–1.5 cm, somewhat pulpy, not juicy.
green or with purple streaks, ovoid, very obscurely angled or angles no longer apparent, 2 × 1–1.5 cm, mealy or pulpy, fleshy, not juicy.
= 10.
= 10.
Trillium viride
Trillium cuneatum
Trillium viride has long been confused with T. luteum of the Smoky Mountain region, though it is far more slender and delicate than T. luteum. Because the pallid forms and so-called albinos of many other sessile trilliums described in written accounts sound much like the description of this plant, early authors ascribed far too wide a range to T. viride. The plant is closely limited to the woodlands of the counties adjacent to the Missouri River in northeastern Missouri and southern Illinois.
Although the ranges of Trillium viride and the very similar T. viridescens do not overlap, both species grow in Missouri, and authors earlier than J. D. Freeman (1975) frequently combined the two as a single species. If all other means of identification fail, the prevalence of numerous stomates on the adaxial bract surface, seen under magnification, will always distinguish T. viride.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Trillium cuneatum has escaped locally and become established in Michigan and other states. It is most frequent on the Ordovician limestone-derived soils of southern Kentucky and Tennessee, and is perhaps the most vigorous and certainly the largest of the eastern sessile trilliums. Numerous, mostly unnamed color forms occur. Plants from the lower piedmont of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, considered by most botanists to be of this species, have smaller, narrower petals than specimens from northeastern Alabama northward to Kentucky, and they are therefore sometimes difficult to place with certainty.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
IL Wildflowers
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
