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Trillium persistens

(Persistent Wakerobin)

Overview

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Endangered
Threat status

Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Persistent Trillium, Persistent Wakerobin

Description

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Genus Trillium

Herbs, perennial , scapose , rhizomatous ; rhizomes subterranean , horizontal or semierect, monopodial, unbranched or weakly branched, elongated to thick and fleshy , compressed-shortened, distal end tapered to point or praemorse , apex bearing large terminal bud, numerous cataphylls, and contractile, adventitious, ringed roots . Scapes arising from terminal bud or axil of adjacent cataphylls, aerial (subterranean in T. petiolatum), erect , straight (decumbent , S-shaped in T. decumbens and T. reliquum). Bracts on mature plants in whorl of 3, uniformly green or mottled , foliaceous , petiolate or sessile, venation palmate-reticulate, with 3-5 major veins, ovate or obovate to elliptical . Inflorescences terminal, 1-flowered. Flowers: some totally to partially syncarpous , pedicellate or sessile; sepals persistent , 3, distinct , green, maroon, or with maroon markings, foliaceous, oblong , ovate, or lanceolate, alternating with bracts; petals shriveling after anthesis , typically 3, erect, spreading , or recurved, distinct, red, purple, pink, white, yellow, green, or combination of these, ovate or obovate to linear , sometimes clawed; stamens 6, alternating in 2 whorls of 3, erect, incurved , or divergent; filaments mostly short, basally expanded; anthers 2-locular, ± equaling or longer than filaments, dehiscence extrorse , latrorse , or introrse ; connectives flat between (or in some species extending beyond) anther sacs ; ovary superior, proximal portion 3-locular, 3- or 6-lobed, some axile , some parietal or a combination of both, distal portion forming stigmas; stigmas often persistent, 3, spreading, twisted, or erect, sometimes connate , sessile or with very short style, linear to subulate . Fruits capsular or baccate , fleshy with obscure sutures, not or rarely dehiscent along sutures, each shed as unit through abscission of thin-walled cells at base . Seeds many, elliptic , 2-4 mm, bearing white or yellowish, large, oily, myrmecochorous elaiosome (aril). x = 5. 2n = 10 in all American species recorded.

Species 43: North America, Asia.

Trillium is traditionally divided into two subgenera , which overlap in some characters. Botanists consider subg. Trillium to be the more primitive group, because the genera considered closest to Trillium all have pedicellate flowers, as does subg. Trillium, except for one variety of T. pusillum that bears sessile to only barely pedicillate flowers.

There is not yet agreement among taxonomists about the relationships among the species within the genus. Certain ones, such as Trillium recurvatum and T. lancifolium, clearly are closely related, but the interrelationships of many others are not obvious. In the absence of definitive studies, the species are listed here alphabetically within subgenera. Several species of Trillium contain sapogenins that have been used medicinally as astringents, coagulants , expectorants , and uterine stimulants, hence the common names birthwort and Indian balm, and T. erectum, T. grandiflorum, and possibly other species have been utilized commercially as beth root (W. B . Zomlefer 1996). Fruits, seeds, and rhizomes of trilliums are generally considered to be poisonous. Deer, however, feed voraciously on T. grandiflorum plants, especially in early spring . Gardeners and wildflower enthusiasts, over most of the temperate zones of the world, consider trilliums to be among the most beautiful of wildflowers. Species of Trillium exhibit few and obscure structural differences, making key construction difficult (J. D. Freeman 1975).[1]

Physical Description

Species Trillium persistens

Rhizomes horizontal to erect , short, praemorse . Scapes 1-2, round in cross section , 2-3 dm, slender, glabrous . Bracts horizontal to drooping distally, sessile; blade 3-5-veined, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3-8.5+ × 1.5-3.5 cm, adaxial surface faintly glossy, rarely with ± 2 mm, winged , petiolelike base , apex acuminate. Flower opening above bracts; sepals spreading , green, elliptic to narrowly ovate , 11-22 × 5-6 mm, thin-textured, margins entire, apex acute; petals erect proximally, spreading distally, white, fading to deep pink with inverted V-shaped basal portion remaining white, veins not engraved, linear-elliptic to occasionally linear , 2-3.5 × 0.5-1 cm, thin-textured, margins undulate at least in distal portion, apex acute; stamens prominent , erect to divergent, straight, 9-14 mm; filaments ± equaling anthers ; anthers straight, yellow or white, dehiscence introrse ; connective barely longer than anther sacs ; ovary white or greenish white, obovate , very sharply 6-angled, 2.5-6 mm; style 2-6 mm; stigmas erect, slightly divergent at tip , delicate, not lobed , shortly connate basally, uniformly thin; pedicel erect or slightly leaning, 1-3 cm, 1/4-1/2 bract length at anthesis . Fruits baccate , greenish white, 6-angled, pulpy, not juicy. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April. • Flower Color: near white, white

Habitat

Humus soils in mixed deciduous-pine woodlands, along stream flats and at edges of Rhododendron thickets, occasionally in open Vaccinium-filled clearings; of conservation concern; 50 m [2].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Shade.

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Rhodora 73:244. 1971

Name verified on 18-Apr-1994 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 22-May-1997

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Trillium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 233 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

T. acuminatum · T. aff. chloropetalum · T. affine · T. albidum (Giant White Wakerobin) · T. album · T. amabile · T. angustifolium · T. angustipetalum (Narrow-Petaled Trillium) · T. apetalon · T. atropurpureum · T. brevipes · T. californicum · T. camschatcense · T. camschatcense 'Tsuzuki' · T. camschatcense var. soyanum · T. camschatcense var. tschonoskii · T. camtschaticum · T. catesbaei (Catesby's Trillium) · T. catesbyi · T. catesbyi f. album · T. cernum · T. cernuum (Northern Nodding Wake-Robin) · T. cernuum f. lalondei · T. cernuum f. marginatum · T. cernuum f. viride · T. cernuum L. var. macranthum Eames & Wiegand · T. cernuum macranthum · T. cernuum var. declinatum · T. cernuum var. typicum · T. chandleri · T. chandleri f. foliaceum · T. chandleri f. gladewitzii · T. chandleri f. palaceum · T. chandleri f. plenum · T. channellii · T. chloropetalum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum (Torr.) Howell var. chloropetalum (Torr.) T.J.Howell (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum giganteum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum 'Ice Creme' · T. chloropetalum var. chloropetalum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum var. chloropetalum × parviflorum · T. chloropetalum var. giganteum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum 'Volcano' · T. chloropetalum white-flowered · T. crassifolium · T. cuneatum (Whip-Poor-Will Flower) · T. cuneatum red-flowered · T. cuneatum × luteum · T. decipiens (Chattahoochee River Wakerobin) · T. declinatum · T. decumbens (Trailing Wakerobin) · T. discolor (Small Yellow Toadshade) · T. erectum (Red Erect Trillium) · T. erectum album · T. erectum 'Beige' · T. erectum declinatum · T. erectum f. albiflorum (White Erect Trillium) · T. erectum f. cahnae · T. erectum f. luteum · T. erectum f. nigrescens · T. erectum f. parviflorum · T. erectum f. polymerum · T. erectum f. viridiflorum · T. erectum L. forma sessile L.' · T. erectum L. 'Rubrum' · T. erectum L. var. erectum · T. erectum purple-flowered · T. erectum red-flowered · T. erectum var. album · T. erectum var. japonicum (Stinking Benjamin) · T. erectum × flexipes · T. erythrocarpum · T. flavum · T. flexipes (Jennison's White Trillium) · T. flexipes erect · T. flexipes f. walpolei · T. foetidissimum (Mississippi River Wakerobin) · T. foetidissimum f. luteum · T. foetidum · T. giganteum · T. giganteum var. chloropetalum · T. gleasonii · T. gleasonii f. walpolei · T. govanianum · T. gracile (Sabine River Wakerobin) · T. grandiflorum (Large Flowered Trillium) · T. grandiflorum 'Double Flowered White' · T. grandiflorum dwarf · T. grandiflorum f. roseum · T. grandiflorum 'Flore-Pleno' · T. grandiflorum 'Flore Pleno' (Trillium) · T. grandiflorum 'Jenny Rhodes' · T. grandiflorum 'Kath's Dwarf' · T. grandiflorum 'Quicksilver' · T. grandiflorum 'Snowbunting' · T. grandiflorum var. minimum · T. grandiflorum var. roseum · T. grandiflorum white-flowered · T. hagae · T. hibbersonii

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Frederick W. Case Jr. "Trillium". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 51, 54, 56, 90, 91, 97, 101, 110, 113, 150. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Trillium persistens". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 92, 101. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009