Trillium foetidissimum

Trillium foetidissimum, also known as the Mississippi River wakerobin, stinking trillium, or fetid trillium,[3][4][5] is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is found along the Louisiana–Mississippi border[6] in a variety of habitats.

Trillium foetidissimum
Trillium foetidissimum in bloom in Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Trillium
Species:
T. foetidissimum
Binomial name
Trillium foetidissimum
J.D.Freeman, 1975
Synonyms[2]
  • Trillium foetidissimum f. luteum J.D.Freeman

Trillium foetidissimum is a perennial herbaceous plant that blooms from early March to early April.[3]

Description

The plant is brown colored with horizontal rhizomes and bracts. It carries 1-2 scapes which are 0.8–2.8 decimetres (3.1–11.0 in) from green to maroon-colored and are round at cross section. Leaves are either light or bronze-green in color. Sepals are located above the bracts and are green colored, horizontal, and lanceolate. They are 16–40 millimetres (0.63–1.57 in) long and 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in) wide and are thick. Petals are erect while apex is acute. Flaments are 3–6 millimetres (0.12–0.24 in) long and are dark maroon in color while stamens are 9–25 millimetres (0.35–0.98 in) and are both erect and prominent. Anthlers are straight, 8–15 millimetres (0.31–0.59 in) long, and are blackish-maroon in color. The species also have erect and ovate ovary which is 5–12 millimetres (0.20–0.47 in) long and is reddish-purple in color. Stigma is also erect and dark purple in color but is subulate and fleshy unlike the ovary. The flower is sessile, of a maroon color fading to brown with narrow lanceolate petals. It emits a smell of rotting meat to attract insect pollinators, hence the name. Its leaves are strongly mottled. The flower turns to a purple-brown berry in autumn.[3]

References
  1. "Trillium foetidissimum". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. "Trillium foetidissimum". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. Case Jr., Frederick W. (2002). "Trillium foetidissimum". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. Stritch, Larry. "Stinking Trillium (Trillium foetidissimum)". United States Forest Service. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  5. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Trillium foetidissimum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  6. "Trillium foetidissimum". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  • Frett, Jeanne (2007). Trilliums at Mt. Cuba Center: A Visitor's Guide. Mt. Cuba Center Inc. ISBN 978-0-9770848-1-4.


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