Trillium viridescens |
Trillium decumbens |
|
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green trillium, Ozark green trillium, Ozark trillium, tapertip wakerobin |
decumbent trillium, trailing wakerobin |
|
Rhizomes | horizontal, brownish, short, thick, praemorse, not brittle. |
short, thick. |
Scapes | 1–3, round in cross section, 2–5 dm, ± stout, glabrous to scabrous. |
1–2, decumbent, usually by an S-shaped curvature, round in cross section, 0.5–2 dm, somewhat stout, slightly expanded toward bracts, densely puberulent, especially just below bracts and on bases of main bract veins beneath. |
Bracts | touching ground in early anthesis or not at all, sessile; blade dark green, obscurely marked with few–many darker blotches (very rarely unmottled), mottling becoming obscure with age, few or no stomates adaxially, ovate-elliptic to broadly so, 8.5–14 × 6.8–9 cm, apex acuminate. |
appearing early in season, in good condition for only a few weeks after anthesis, dying back to semipersistent bases early, resting on ground surface, sessile; blade strongly mottled in shades of green and bronze and with silvery overlay, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to suborbicular, 4–12 × 3.3–7 cm, apex acute to rounded. |
Flower | erect, odor, if present, spicy or musty; sepals displayed above bracts, widely spreading, green or variously purple marked, lanceolate, 38–60 × 5–12 mm, margins entire, apex acute; petals long-lasting, erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, purplish black on claw, greenish to yellow-green distally, sometimes all dark purple, occasionally slightly twisted, linear to narrowly spatulate, 4–8 × 0.8–1.2 cm, thick-textured, base slightly thickened and clawed, margins entire, apex rounded, lacking nipple; stamens erect, connivent (clustered together, leaning upon each other), 16–25 mm; filaments olive or purplish brown, 2.5–5 mm, very slender, widened basally; anthers erect, straight or slightly incurved, olive-brown, 13–20 mm, ± slender, dehiscence latrorse; connectives brownish, barely extending beyond anther sacs; ovary pale greenish white basally, purplish distally, ovoid, 6-angled, 5.5–10 mm; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, purplish abaxially, sessile, almost linear, 6–10 mm, ± equaling ovary, ± not fleshy, very slightly widened basally. |
erect, odor unreported; sepals divergent, green- or maroon-streaked, lanceolate-ovate, 22–48 × 9–14 mm, margins entire, flat, apex acute; petals long-lasting, rigidly erect, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, dark maroon-purple when fresh, fading especially distally to dull reddish brown, greenish brown, or with creamy yellow tones, very rarely pale lemon yellow forms occur, twisted (but not spiraled), linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4–8+ × 0.7–1 cm, thick-textured, margins entire, apex acute; stamens erect, straight, dark purple, 10–25 mm; filaments dark purple, 2–5 mm; anthers straight, dark purple, 9–20 mm, dehiscence extrorse; connectives broad, extending to 3.5–4 mm beyond anther sacs; ovary dark purple, oval, 6-angled, 5–10 mm; stigmas erect, divergent-recurved, distinct, sessile, pink or white, subulate, 4.5–8 mm. |
Fruits | dark purplish green or green, odor unreported, ovoid, obscurely angled, with remains of persistent stigma, 0.7–1.5 cm, pulpy, not juicy at time of separation from receptacle. |
baccate, dark purple, broadly ovoid to subglobose, crownlike, strongly ridged, 1–1.5 × 1 cm, pulpy but not juicy, present and enlarging on naked scapes until early autumn. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Trillium viridescens |
Trillium decumbens |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (early Apr–mid May). | Flowering late winter–spring (mid Mar–Apr). |
Habitat | Deciduous forests, usually quite rich, on banks, bluffs, talus slopes, floodplain alluvium, with cane (Arundinaria) or on sloping banks just above normal flood levels in heavy, clayey soils, with common spring ephemerals | Thin, open rocky wooded slopes, mature deciduous woodlands, rocky talus and disintegrating shale, flats (floodplains) of small streams and adjacent slopes near river entrance |
Elevation | 100–400 m (300–1300 ft) | 50–200 m (200–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; KS; MO; OK; TX
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AL; GA; TN
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. J. D. Freeman (1975) considered that Trillium viridescens intergrades with T. gracile in northeastern Texas and stated that these putative intergrades produce purple petals, but purple-petaled forms also occur in Arkansas, far from the influence of T. gracile. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trillium decumbens occurs in the Ridge and Valley and Cumberland Plateau physiographic provinces. It has a large, deep, horizontal rhizome, the growing point of which always faces downslope. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 117. | FNA vol. 26, p. 109. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum | Liliaceae > Trillium > subg. Phyllantherum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 5: 155. (1837) | Harbison: Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1: 158. (1902) |
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