Trillium. LILIACE^. T[g]^ 



26. TRILLIUM, Linn. Wake Robin. 

 Periantli 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 G, on the base of the perianth and much shorter tlian the 

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

 connective, usually introrse. Ovary sessile, ovate-globose, 3 - 0-angled, 3-cclled, 

 several-ovuled : stigmas nearly sessile, linear or subulate, recurved ab(jve, channelled. 

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

 ceiitre), red or purple. Seeds ovate, with tliick rha[)hc 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 cliicfly American ami of tlic Atlantic States. Two are found in E. Asia, 

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



* Flowers sessile. 



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

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

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

 late, acute or obtuse, A to 2 inches long, erect or spreading: aiitiiers 3 to 7 lines long, 

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

 the broadly civate ovary. 



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

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

 oblanceolate to rhom1)icobovate, 1 to 4 inches long, purple or rose-color or some- 

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

 — T. sessile, vars. rfirfniitenm and chloropetalum, Torr. in Pacif. li. Pep. iv. 151. 



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

 petiolate : petals narrowly oblanceolate to linear. — 1\ sessile, var. giganteinn. Hook. 

 & Arn. Bot. Bcechey, 402. 



Frequent in rich moist valleys and Iiillsides, from San Luis Ohispo to Orprjon, especiallv the 

 var. Californicum. Tiie 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 JLirch to lilny ; 

 the fruit of the western forms has not been collected. 



T. PETioLATUM, Pursh, of Oregon and Washington Territory, is distinguislied by tlie short 

 stem scarcely exserted from the basal sheaths (3 or 4 incites 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 j)e(hmculate. 



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

 bic-ovate, 2 to G inches long, acute or shortly acuminate, narrowed at l)ase 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, G to lines long : 

 seeds 1^ lines long. — Fl. 245. T. Cdlifornicum, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. ii. 

 50, fig. 2. 



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

 nuK'h resembles the eastern T. grnvdifJonnn, to which it has .sometimes been referretl, but the 

 ])etals are never obovato and rarely even oblanceolate, and the stigmas arc less slender and more 

 recurved. 



