Flora of North America species comparison

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Triteleia

Triteleia lilacina

brodiaea, triplet-lily, triteleia

foothill triteleia, glassy wild hyacinth, lilac pretty-face, lilac-flower wild hyacinth
Habit Herbs, perennial, scapose, from fibrous-coated corms.
Leaves

1–3, basal;

blade narrowly lanceolate (linear in Triteleia ixioides), keeled, channeled, glabrous, margins entire.

10–40 cm × 4–22 mm.
Scape

erect, cylindrical, 1–5 mm diam., rigid.

30–60 cm, smooth to scabrous.
Inflorescences

umbellate, open, bracteate;

bracts green (purplish in T. lemmoniae), ± lanceolate, scarious.

Flowers

perianth 6-tepaled, connate proximally into tube of varying length and shape, usually funnelform, lobes similar, usually ascending to spreading;

stamens 6, epitepalous;

filaments distinct, adnate to perianth tube in 1 or 2 rows, equal or of 2 unequal lengths, free portions flattened, sometimes dilated at base to form triangle, apical appendages usually absent, when present sometimes forming a crown;

anthers versatile, usually curving away from stigma;

pistil 3-carpellate;

ovary superior, green or colored like perianth (yellow in T. peduncularis, white in T. clementina), stipitate, 3-locular, ovules anatropous, 2–several per locule;

style 2–4 mm;

stigma weakly 3-lobed;

pedicel ± erect, often articulate, usually longer than perianth (shorter in T. crocea).

perianth white, unstriped, 7–10 mm, tube shallowly bowl-shaped, 2–4 mm, hyaline vescicles present in tube, lobes 7–12 mm, 2–3 times longer than tube;

stamens attached at 1 level, equal;

filaments linear, 2–4 mm, apical appendages absent;

anthers bluish purple or bluish purple-dotted, 1–2 mm;

ovary twice as long as stipe;

pedicel 0.5–5 cm.
Fruits

capsular, ovoid, dehiscence loculicidal.

Seeds

black, ridged on 1 side, subglobose, rounded, coarsely and irregularly pitted, minutely granulate or granulate-reticulate, coat with crust.

x

= 7, 8.

2n

= 16.

Triteleia

Triteleia lilacina
Phenology Flowering spring (Mar–Jun).
Habitat Dry rocky outcrops, volcanic hills and mesas
Elevation 100–200 m (300–700 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; n Mexico
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Species 15 (14 in the flora).

For discussion of relationships, see under Brodiaea.

Molecular evidence (J. C. Pires 2000) suggests the artificiality of the subgenera and sections that have been recognized within Triteleia, consistent with R. F. Hoover (1941), who recognized sections for reasons of convenience only. Thus, those infrageneric taxa are not utilized here.

Several species of Triteleia are exceedingly variable, and polyploidy is common: multiples of both x = 7 and x = 8 occur, suggesting that chromosomal changes have played a significant evolutionary role within the genus (M. P. Burbanck 1941).

Triteleia is widely distributed west of the Rocky Mountains, but its greatest diversity is in the “Klamath area” of northwestern California and southern Oregon. The corms of some species were eaten by native Americans.

Among the most important diagnostic characters within Triteleia are features of the androecium, particularly stamen height and insertion relative to the perianth, and the presence of apical filament appendages. These characters are easily seen in the field with a hand lens. When collecting flowering specimens, one should make a point of mounting a few dissected flowers in a manner that displays these critical characters.

The only Triteleia species that does not occur in the flora, T. guadalupensis L. W. Lenz, is endemic to Guadalupe Island off Baja California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Triteleia lilacina differs from T. hyacinthina in base chromosome number and in that the interior of the perianth tube is covered with hyaline vesicles (making a glassy nectary). In addition, T. lilacina has linear filaments and bluish purple anthers at anthesis, whereas T. hyacinthina tends to have triangular-dilated filaments and whitish to yellow (or rarely blue) anthers at anthesis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stamens attached alternately at 2 levels on perianth tube, forming 2 rows of 3.
→ 2
1. Stamens all attached at same level at throat of perianth tube.
→ 6
2. Perianth tube obtuse and rounded at base; ovary twice as long as stipe.
T. grandiflora
2. Perianth tube acute or attenuate at base; ovary shorter than or equal to stipe (slightly longer than stipe in T. crocea).
→ 3
3. Stamens unequal, alternately long and short.
→ 4
3. Stamens equal in length or nearly so.
→ 5
4. Pedicel 0.7–2 cm; perianth 12–19 mm, bright yellow or pale blue; ovary green.
T. crocea
4. Pedicel 2–10(–18) cm; perianth 15–28 mm, white, often flushed violet or lilac abaxially; ovary bright yellow.
T. peduncularis
5. Perianth 16–27 mm, lavender; anthers purple, 1.5 mm; endemic to San Clemente Island.
T. clementina
5. Perianth 18–47 mm, pale blue, sometimes deep bluish purple or white; anthers white to bluish, 2–5 mm; widespread in California.
T. laxa
6. Stamens unequal, alternately long and short.
→ 7
6. Stamens equal in length or nearly so.
→ 9
7. Longer filaments rounded apically.
T. lugens
7. Longer filaments not rounded apically.
→ 8
8. Apical filament appendages short, blunt, or absent; perianth tube ca. equal to lobes.
T. dudleyi
8. Apical filament appendages pointed, conspicuous; perianth tube much shorter than or equal to lobes.
T. ixioides
9. Perianth 27–45 mm, tube strongly attenuate, lobes shorter than tube.
T. bridgesii
9. Perianth 7–23 mm, tube turbinate, bowl-shaped, or funnelform and moderately attenuate at base, lobes 2–3 times longer than tube.
→ 10
10. Perianth tube funnelform, attenuate at base, lobes ca. twice as long as tube.
→ 11
10. Perianth tube turbinate or shallowly bowl-shaped, lobes 2–3 times longer than tube.
→ 12
11. Perianth 12–17 mm; filaments more than 1/2 as long as perianth lobes.
T. montana
11. Perianth 18–26 mm; filaments less than 1/2 as long as perianth lobes.
T. hendersonii
12. Perianth bright yellow to deep orange, turbinate; Arizona.
T. lemmoniae
12. Perianth white, blue, or lilac, shallowly bowl-shaped; not in Arizona.
→ 13
13. Filaments usually triangular-dilated, hyaline vesicles absent from perianth tube; usually moist soils, widespread.
T. hyacinthina
13. Filaments always linear, hyaline vesicles present in perianth tube; dry rocky outcrops, volcanic hills and mesas of n California.
T. lilacina
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 338. Author: J. Chris Pires. FNA vol. 26, p. 345.
Parent taxa Liliaceae Liliaceae > Triteleia
Sibling taxa
T. bridgesii, T. clementina, T. crocea, T. dudleyi, T. grandiflora, T. hendersonii, T. hyacinthina, T. ixioides, T. laxa, T. lemmoniae, T. lugens, T. montana, T. peduncularis
Subordinate taxa
T. bridgesii, T. clementina, T. crocea, T. dudleyi, T. grandiflora, T. hendersonii, T. hyacinthina, T. ixioides, T. laxa, T. lemmoniae, T. lilacina, T. lugens, T. montana, T. peduncularis
Synonyms Brodiaea section Calliprora, Brodiaea subg. Calliprora, Brodiaea subg. Hesperoscordum, Brodiaea section Seubertia, Brodiaea subg. T., Calliprora, Hesperoscordum, Seubertia Brodiaea hyacinthina var. greenei, Brodiaea lilacina, Hesperoscordum lilacinum, T. hyacinthina var. greenei
Name authority Douglas ex Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 15: under plate 1293. (1830) Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 143. (1886)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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