Trillium maculatum

Trillium maculatum, the spotted wakerobin or spotted trillium,[4][5] is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, a closely-related group of sessile-flowered trilliums. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States, ranging across Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and northern Florida.

Trillium maculatum

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Trillium
Species:
T. maculatum
Binomial name
Trillium maculatum
Synonyms[3]
Trillium maculatum
    • Trillium maculatum f. luteum J.D.Freeman
    • Trillium maculatum f. simulans J.D.Freeman

Description

Trillium maculatum is a perennial, herbaceous, flowering plant that persists by means of an underground rhizome. Like all trilliums, it has a whorl of three bracts (leaves) and a single trimerous flower with three sepals, three petals, two whorls of three stamens each, and three carpels (fused into a single ovary with three stigmas).[6] It has a sessile flower (no flower stalk), erect petals, and mottled leaves.[7] Its flower petals are deep red or reddish-purple but occasionally yellow.[5]

Taxonomy

Trillium maculatum was first described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1830.[2] The specific epithet maculatum means "spotted",[8] a reference to the conspicuously marked leaves of some forms of this species.[9] Although Rafinesque described a species with spotted stems,[10] later authors have not confirmed that character.

Trillium maculatum is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, a group of eight taxa including Trillium luteum and Trillium cuneatum (in the strict sense).[11] All members of the complex are sessile-flowered trilliums (Trillium subgen. Sessilia).

Distribution and habitat

Trillium maculatum is endemic to the southeastern United States, ranging across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida.[3][12]

Ecology

Trillium maculatum flowers early February to early April.[13]

References
  1. "Trillium maculatum". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. "Trillium maculatum Raf.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. "Trillium maculatum Raf.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  4. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Trillium maculatum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  5. Case Jr., Frederick W. (2002). "Trillium maculatum". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 31 March 2023 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. Case Jr., Frederick W. (2002). "Trillium". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 29 March 2023 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  7. Case Jr., Frederick W. (2002). "Trillium subg. Phyllantherum". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 29 March 2023 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. Gledhill, David (2008). The Names of Plants (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-521-86645-3.
  9. Case & Case (1997), p. 209.
  10. Rafinesque, C. S. (1830). Medical Flora; or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America. Vol. 2. Philadelphia. p. 103. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  11. Lampley (2021), Ch. 2.
  12. "Trillium maculatum". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  13. Stritch, Larry. "Spotted Trillium (Trillium maculatum)". United States Forest Service. Retrieved 7 October 2019.

Bibliography
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