font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Trillium simile

(Jeweled Wake Robin)

Overview

[ Back to top ]

Interesting Facts

[ Back to top ]
 

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Common Names in English:

Jeweled Wake Robin, Confusing Trillium, Jeweled Wakerobin, Sweet White Trillium, Sweet White Wakerobin

Description

[ Back to top ]

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 simile

Rhizomes forming clumps , stout, praemorse . Scapes 1-many, round in cross section , 3-6 dm, stout, glabrous . Bracts sessile to subsessile ; blade green, major veins prominent , rhombic , 10-18 × 10-20 cm, not glossy, tapered basally, apex short-acuminate. Flower above bracts, erect to mostly leaning, odor faintly sweet, applelike; perianth gaping , strongly 3-dimensional; sepals spreading , green, flat, oblanceolate-lanceolate, 20-40 × 6-15 mm, margins entire, apex mildly sulcate ; petals spreading-ascending, not recurved to weakly so at tip , creamy white, flat, adaxial veins faintly engraved, ovate to ovate-orbicular, 4-7+ × 1.5-4 cm, 1.5 times as long as sepals, heavy-textured, base rounded , margins entire, apex acuminate; stamens erect to weakly recurved, 7-20 mm; filaments purple or brownish, shorter than anthers , slender; anthers weakly recurved, yellow with brown undertones, 6-20 mm, longer than ovary, slender, dehiscence introrse ; connectives purple-brown, not extending beyond anther sacs ; ovary dark purplish black, pyramidal at anthesis , very strongly 6-angled, 7-12 mm, widely attached basally; stigmas short, mildly recurved, distinct , purple or yellow, not lobed adaxially, 2-5.5 mm, fleshy , basally widened to gradually tapered; pedicel ± erect to mostly leaning, 4-9 cm. Fruits baccate , dark purplish black, odorless, orbicular , 1-1.5 cm diam., fleshy, not juicy. [source]

A recent study of matK gene sequencing (S. Kazempour Osaloo et al. 1999) placed Trillium simile with the T. grandiflorum group and T. catesbaei, which has united styles and white-angled ovaries, not with the T. erectum group. In my opinion , this may reflect an error in labeling samples , for T. simile has the dark, round ovary with three, separate, subulate stigmas and other characteristics of the T. erectum alliance . Also, it hybridizes with T. erectum and other species of that alliance. L. Barksdale (1938) described a complex of forms that he considered to be the result of such hybridization. I have seen such complexes near Maryville, Tennessee, where T. simile and T. erectum forma album occur together with a full range of intergrades between the two. Trillium catesbaei and the species related to T. grandiflorum do not hybridize with any species, and all have slightly to clearly fused, linear styles. [source]

Clearly Trillium simile is closely related to T. vaseyi and T. erectum, but it seems to be a distinct species, though somewhat difficult to identify when not in its most robust condition. J. K . Small (1933) reported Trillium simile to be deliciously fragrant, a quality I have not noticed in my plants . [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

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

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-18" tall.

Habitat

Rich coves of mature forests , edges of Rhododendron thickets and at edges of forests, in moist humus soil; 500--700 m [2].

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 12-15" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Partial to Full Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Synonyms

Trillium erectum f simile (Gleason) H. E. Ahles 1964 • Trillium Erectum Simile • Trillium erectum v simile (Gleason) Ihara 1978 • Trillium erectum v vaseyi f simile (Gleason) H. E. Ahles 1964 • Trillium erectum L. f. simile (Gleason) H.E.Ahles • Trillium vaseyi Harbison var. simile (Gleason) Barksdale • Trillium vaseyi v simile (Gleason) Barksd. 1938

Notes

Publishing author : Gleason Publication : Bull . Torrey Bot. Club 33: 391 1906

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Trillium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 58 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

T. albidum (Giant Trillium) · T. angustipetalum (Narrowpetal Wakerobin) · T. catesbaei (Bashful Wakerobin) · T. cernuum (Nodding Trillium) · T. chloropetalum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum (Torr.) Howell var. chloropetalum (Torr.) T.J.Howell (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum giganteum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum var. chloropetalum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. chloropetalum var. giganteum (Giant Wakerobin) · T. cuneatum (Little Sweet Betsy) · T. decipiens (Chattahoochee River Wakerobin) · T. decumbens (Trailing Trillium) · T. discolor (Mottled Wakerobin) · T. erectum (Red Erect Trillium) · T. erectum f. albiflorum (White Erect Trillium) · T. erectum var. japonicum (Stinking Benjamin) · T. flexipes (Bent Trillium) · T. foetidissimum (Mississippi River Wakerobin) · T. gracile (Sabine River Wakerobin) · T. grandiflorum (Great White Trillium) · T. grandiflorum f. polymerum 'Flore Pleno' (Double-Flowered American Wake-Robin) · T. grandiflorum Gothenburg pink strain (Great White Trillium) · T. grandiflorum 'Flore Pleno' (Trillium) · T. kamtschaticum (Trillium) · T. kurabayashi (Wake Robin) · T. kurabayashii (Giant Purple Wakerobin) · T. lancifolium (Lanceleaf Wakerobin) · T. ludovicianum (Louisiana Wakerobin) · T. luteum (Lemon Trillium) · T. maculatum (Spotted Wakerobin) · T. nivale (Dwarf White Wakerobin) · T. ovatum (Pacific Trillium) · T. ovatum oettingeri (Oettinger's Trillium) · T. ovatum 'Roy Elliott' (Western Trillium) · T. parviflorum (Smallflower Wakerobin) · T. persistens (Persistent Trillium) · T. petiolatum (Idaho Trillium) · T. pusillum (Dwarf Wakerobin) · T. pusillum var. ozarkanum (Ozark Wake-Robin) · T. pusillum var. pusillum (Dwarf Wakerobin) · T. pusillum var. virginianum (Virginia Wakerobin) · T. rectum (Stinking Benjamin) · T. recurvatum (Bloody Butcher) · T. reliquum (Confederate Wakerobin) · T. reliquum f. luteum (Relic Trillium) · T. rivale (Brook Wakerobin) · T. rugelii (Ill-Scented Wakerobin) · T. sessile (Common Toad Shade) · T. simile (Jeweled Wake Robin) · T. stamineum (Blue Ridge Wakerobin) · T. sulcatum (Barksdales Trillium) · T. texanum (Texas Trillium) · T. tschonoskii (Tschonoskis Wake Robin) · T. underwoodii (Lonbract Wakerobin) · T. undulatum (Painted Trillium) · T. vaseyi (Sweet Wakerobin) · T. viride (Wood Wakerobin) · T. viridescens (Tapertip Wakerobin)

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 21, 2007:

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 simile". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 104. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012