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Trillium parviflorum

(Smallflower Wakerobin)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Smallflower Wakerobin, Small-Flowered Trillium

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 parviflorum

Rhizomes horizontal to ± erect , brownish, thick, praemorse , not brittle. Scapes 1-3, round in cross section , 1.7-3 dm, slender to robust , glabrous . Bracts held well above ground , sessile; blade green with widely scattered mottling, mottling becoming obscure with age, ovate to broadly ovate, 6.5-16 × 5-8 cm, not glossy, apex obtuse . Flower erect, odor spicy, of cloves; sepals displayed above bracts, spreading , divergent, green, lanceolate, 16-25 × 4-8 mm, margins entire, flat, apex variously obtuse to rounded ; petals long-lasting, erect to erect-spreading, ± connivent, ± concealing stamens and ovary, white, occasionally purple stained basally, sometimes weakly spirally twisted, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2.2-4.5 × 0.4-1 cm, thin-textured, base occasionally cuneate, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens erect, 10-15.5 mm; filaments white, greenish white, or purple stained, 1-3 mm, much shorter than anthers , slender; anthers erect, straight, greenish white, 9-11+ mm, ± slender, dehiscence latrorse ; connective greenish, straight, barely extended (to 0.4 mm) beyond anther sacs ; ovary green or green and purple basally, ovoid , obscurely 6-gonal, 4-8 mm; stigmas erect, ± divergent, distinct , green, outer surface purple, subulate , 3-4.5 mm, ± fleshy , thickened. Fruits dark reddish purple or maroon, fragrance not reported, subglobose, ± 1 cm, ± juicy. 2n = 10. [source]

Trillium parviflorum varies from very short, slender, small-bracted plants to tall, broad, umbrella-bracted giants. Regardless of plant or bract sizes, flower and petal sizes are remarkably constant, all plants having small, linear-lanceolate petals. This is not usually the case with T. albidum, the species with which this plant is most likely to be confused. In T. albidum also the plants can be enormous, but when they are, the petals are very long, broad, and conspicuously obovate-diamond-shaped. In large clonal clumps of T. albidum, the larger and more mature offsets show the typical petal shape, while the smaller and presumably youngest offsets sometimes produce smaller, narrower petals, more like those of T. parviflorum. [source]

Some western botanists, more experienced with local populations than I, do not consider Trillium parviflorum to be distinct from T. albidum. They point out that since there is an extensive region of apparent intergradation (as indeed there is, well supported by herbarium vouchers ), there exists a morphological cline from the long- and wide-petaled T. albidum to the narrower- and generally shorter-petaled T. parviflorum, and that T. parviflorum, therefore, should not be considered a separate species but rather a subspecies or a variety. Since no one to date has treated T. parviflorum at the subspecific or varietal level, and since in my own limited experience it does appear as a distinct species in Washington north of the Columbia River , I include it here as treated by Soukup. I have seen populations of considerable variation north of Corvallis, Oregon, and agree that there is much overlap with T. albidum. Obviously there is need for a much more extensive study of this situation. A factor that exacerbates this problem (and many others in Trillium), is that nutrition, age, and even favorable position in the habitat can greatly influence plant and floral organ sizes. In many species, including T. albidum, when a single vigorous clonal clump produces many offsets, the oldest offsets may have flowers with very large petals, sepals, ovary, etc. , while the younger offsets may have organs only half the size. In most sessile trilliums particularly, population averages are often more useful than isolated individual measurements , a difficult situation, indeed. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April, May.

Habitat

Mature fir (Abies), spruce (Picea), and hardwood forests in rich humus with mosses, open, somewhat grassy large groves of old oaks, with considerable underbrush and rather few herbaceous companions, in tangled, wet stream-bank alders (Alnus sp. ), grasses, open clay hillside soils among shrubs ; 20--60 m [2].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : V.G.Soukup Publication : Brittonia 32: 330, fig 1980

Similar Species

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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

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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 parviflorum". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 94, 113. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012