Trillium. LILIACE^E. 



26. TRILLIUM, Linn. WAKE EOBIN. 



Perianth of 3 herbaceous lanceolate persistent sepals and as many larger dis- 

 tinct more or less spreading colored (white to purple) several-nerved marces- 

 cent petals. Stamens 6, on the base of the perianth and much shorter than the 

 segments ; filaments short and stout ; anthers linear, the cells separated by a broad 

 connective, usually iutrorse. Ovary sessile, ovate-globose, 3-6-angled, 3-celled, 

 several-ovuled : stigmas nearly sessile, linear or subulate, recurved above, channelled. 

 Fruit an ovate berry, 3-celled (or sometimes imperfectly 1-celled with parietal pla- 

 centas), red or purple. Seeds ovate, with thick rhaphe and close thin scarcely striate 

 testa. - Perennial glabrous herbs, with short tuber-like rhizomes, and stout simple 

 stems scariously sheathed at base, and bearing at top a whorl of 3 dilated mostly 

 rhombic-ovate 3 5-nerved and net- veined leaves, and a large solitary flower. 

 Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. xiv. 273. 



The dozen species are chiefly American and of the Atlantic States. Two are found in E. Asia, 

 of which one is considered a form of an eastern species. The roots are acrid and produce emesis. 



* Flowers sessile. 



1. T. sessile, Linn. Stems usually several from the same root, about a foot 

 high : leaves closely sessile, ovate-elliptic and often rhombic, usually mottled with 

 brown, acute : petals dull purple or sometimes greenish white, oblanceolate or spatu- 

 late, acute or obtuse, ^ to 2 inches long, erect or spreading : anthers 3 to 7 lines long, 

 equalling or exceeding the stout stigmas, which are 3 or 4 lines long and sessile upon 

 the broadly ovate ovary. 



Var. Californicum, Watson, 1. c. Larger in all its parts : leaves very broadly 

 rhombic-ovate, 3 to 6 inches long and usually broader than long, acutish : petals 

 oblanceolate to rhombic-obovate, 1 to 4 inches long, purple or rose-color or some- 

 times white : anthers 6 to 9 lines long, usually considerably exceeding the stigmas. 

 T. sessile, vars. giganteum and chloropetalum, Torr. in Pacif. R. Eep. iv. 151. 



Var. angustipetalum, Torr. 1. c. Leaves narrowed at base and somewhat 

 petiolate : petals narrowly oblanceolate to linear. T. sessile, var. giganteum, Hook. 

 & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 402. 



Frequent in rich moist valleys and hillsides, from San Luis Obispo to Oregon, especially the 

 var. Californicum. The strictly typical form of the Eastern States seems not to be found in Cali- 

 fornia. Very variable in the size, form and color of the flowers. Flowering from March to May ; 

 the fruit of the western forms has not been collected. 



T. PETIOLATUM, Pursh, of Oregon and Washington Territory, is distinguished by the short 

 stem scarcely exserted from the basal sheaths (3 or 4 inches long), and by the ovate-elliptic to 

 reniform leaves with petioles equalling or exceeding the blade ; petals narrowly oblanceolate, but 

 little longer than the sepals. Not yet collected in California. 



* * Flowers pedunculate. 



2. T. ovatum, Pursh. Stem rather slender, a foot high or more : leaves rhom- 

 bic-ovate, 2 to 6 inches long, acute or shortly acuminate, narrowed at base or slightly 

 petiolate : peduncle erect, 1 to 3 inches long : petals spreading, lanceolate or rarely 

 somewhat oblanceolate, acute, 1 or 2 inches long and 3 to 10 lines broad, white soon 

 turning to deep rose-color, little exceeding the sepals : stamens 3 to 6 lines long : 

 stigmas slender, sessile : capsule broadly ovate, somewhat winged, 6 to 9 lines long : 

 seeds 11 lines long. Fl. 245. T. Californicum, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. ii. 

 50, fig. 2. 



In the Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz (Wood) to Oregon and British Columbia. This species 

 much resembles the eastern T. grandiftorum, to which it has sometimes been referred, but the 

 petals are never obovate and rarely even oblanceolate, and the stigmas are less slender and more 

 recurved. 



