Trillium reliquum

Last updated

Trillium reliquum
Trillium reliquum.jpg
Trillium reliquum demonstrating its three mottled elliptical, pointed leaves
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Trillium
Species:
T. reliquum
Binomial name
Trillium reliquum

Trillium reliquum, the relict trillium, [4] Confederate wakerobin, [5] or Confederate trillium, is a monocotyledon species of the genus Trillium , a perennial, flowering, herbaceous plant of the family Liliaceae. It is found only in the southeastern region of the United States: southeast Alabama and central and west Georgia, with a disjunct population in east Georgia and southwest South Carolina. [1] As a relict species, there are a few remaining groups but it was once more abundant when conditions were different. Significant habitat loss has occurred through clearing of forests for agricultural and pine farm uses. [6]

Contents

Effective May 4, 1988, Trillium reliquum received protection as a federally listed endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. [2] [3] The common name varies by location. [7] It grows in undisturbed hardwood forests that sometimes include mature pines and that are free of understory plants such as bushes and vines. It likes moist, well-drained soils along the banks of streams and small stream floodplains, mixed with other wildflowers and forest debris. [8]

Trillium reliquum was first collected near Augusta in 1901 but was not described as a new species until 1975. [6]

Description

Trillium reliquum has a sessile flower on a curved stem at the center of its three mottled leaves that are blue-green, to green to silver in color. It flowers from March to April. [6] From the end of a stocky underground rhizome, the plant sprouts a single shoot topped by the three mottled leaves and a single sessile flower; the flower is only half the size of the leaves. The stem is normally not erect, but rather lies along the ground. The flower consists of three petals, alternating with three sepals. [9] The flowers can be greenish to brownish-purple and even pure yellow at times. Its three sepals spread out and usually are a purple color on the inside. The three petals tend to be erect and somewhat twisted, varying from dark purple to yellow in color. The petals are about twice as long as the stamens. [10] The fruit, which is a round, fleshy capsule, appears from May to June.

Future

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lists this plant as surviving in 21 sites in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. [9] The reasons for the restrictions of this formerly widespread plant to only a few locations is not entirely clear. It is not commonly collected in the wild (for aesthetic or other uses) and is therefore considered relatively safe, in spite of its endangerment. There is no evidence that its numbers have declined recently. [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Trillium</i> Genus of flowering plants

Trillium is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. Trillium species are native to temperate regions of North America and Asia, with the greatest diversity of species found in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.

<i>Trillium chloropetalum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium chloropetalum, also known as giant trillium, giant wakerobin, or common trillium, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is endemic to the western U.S. state of California, being especially frequent in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.

<i>Trillium persistens</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium persistens, the persistent trillium, is a North American species of flowering plants in the genus Trillium of family Melanthiaceae. The plant is also called the persistent wakerobin.

<i>Trillium ovatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium ovatum, the Pacific trillium, also known as the western wakerobin, western white trillium, or western trillium, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is found in western North America, from southern British Columbia and the tip of southwestern Alberta to central California, east to Idaho and western Montana. There is an isolated population in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

<i>Trillium luteum</i> Species of plant

Trillium luteum, the yellow trillium or yellow wakerobin, is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower 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, especially in and around the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

<i>Trillium rugelii</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium rugelii, also known as the southern nodding trillium or illscented wakerobin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to parts of the southeastern United States. It is found in the Great Smoky Mountains, Fernbank Forest, Steven's Creek Heritage Preserve, and other places of the Piedmont and southern Appalachian Mountains in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. It prefers to grow near streams in humus-rich soil under the shade of deciduous trees.

<i>Trillium discolor</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium discolor, the mottled wakerobin, pale yellow trillium, or small yellow toadshade, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to areas of the Savannah River drainage system of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina such as Steven's Creek Heritage Preserve and Lake Keowee. It is found along moist stream banks in upland woods, on acidic to basic soils.

<i>Trillium viridescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium viridescens, also known as the Ozark trillium or tapertip wakerobin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is found in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Louisiana. It usually grows in rich deciduous forests and mountain ranges where the soil is clayey and calcareous.

<i>Trillium cuneatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium cuneatum, the little sweet betsy, also known as whip-poor-will flower, large toadshade, purple toadshade, and bloody butcher, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, a subgroup of the sessile-flowered trilliums. It is native to the southeastern United States but is especially common in a region that extends from southern Kentucky through central Tennessee to northern Alabama. In its native habitat, this perennial plant flowers from early March to late April. It is the largest of the eastern sessile-flowered trilliums.

<i>Trillium sessile</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium sessile is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. The specific epithet sessile means "attached without a distinct stalk", an apparent reference to its stalkless flower. It is commonly known as toadshade or toad trillium. It is also called sessile trillium or sessile-flowered wake-robin, however it is not the only member of the genus with a sessile flower.

<i>Trillium decipiens</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium decipiens, also known as Chattahoochee River wakerobin or deceiving trillium, is a spring-flowering perennial plant. It occurs mostly near the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Scattered populations are found elsewhere in these three states, all within the Atlantic Coastal Plain or Gulf Coastal Plain. Rich deciduous woods of bluffs, ravines, and alluvial land provide its most favored habitat.

<i>Trillium stamineum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium stamineum, the twisted trillium, also known as the Blue Ridge wakerobin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Its natural habitat is calcareous woodlands.

<i>Trillium decumbens</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium decumbens, also known as the decumbent trillium or trailing wakerobin, is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family (Melanthiaceae). It is native to the southeastern United States, specifically Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, where it grows in mature deciduous woodlands or on open rocky wooded slopes.

<i>Trillium foetidissimum</i> Species of flowering plant

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

<i>Trillium albidum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium albidum is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. It is the only trillium characterized by a stalkless white flower. The species is endemic to the western United States, ranging from central California through Oregon to southwestern Washington. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is often confused with a white-flowered form of Trillium chloropetalum. In northern Oregon and southwestern Washington, it has a smaller, less conspicuous flower.

<i>Trillium recurvatum</i> Species of plant

Trillium recurvatum, the prairie trillium, toadshade, or bloody butcher, is a species of perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to parts of central and eastern United States, where it is found from Iowa south to Texas and east to North Carolina and Pennsylvania. It grows in mesic forests and savannas, often in calcareous soils. It is also known as bloody noses, red trillium, prairie wake-robin, purple trillium, and reflexed trillium, in reference to its reflexed sepals.

<i>Trillium petiolatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium petiolatum, the Idaho trillium, also known as the long-petioled trillium or round-leaved trillium, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to the northwestern United States, in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The type specimen for this species was gathered by Meriwether Lewis in 1806 along the Clearwater River during the return trip of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

<i>Trillium angustipetalum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium angustipetalum, with the common name is narrowpetal wakerobin, is a species of Trillium, plants which may be included within the Liliaceae or the newer family Melanthiaceae.

<i>Trillium kurabayashii</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium kurabayashii is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. The species is endemic to the western United States, occurring in extreme southwestern Oregon, northwestern California, and the Sierra Nevada of northern California. It was first described by John Daniel Freeman in 1975. The specific epithet kurabayashii honors Masataka Kurabayashi, a Japanese cytologist and population geneticist who first postulated the taxon’s existence. It is commonly known as the giant purple wakerobin, a reference to its conspicuously large, dark purple-red flower, one of the largest of any sessile-flowered trillium.

<i>Trillium maculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium maculatum, the spotted wakerobin or spotted trillium, 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.

References

  1. 1 2 Meredith, C.R.; Trillium Working Group 2019 (2020). "Trillium reliquum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T146087037A146089300. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T146087037A146089300.en . Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Relict trillium (Trillium reliquum)". Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  3. 1 2 53 FR 10879
  4. Case Jr., Frederick W. (2002). "Trillium reliquum". 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. Retrieved July 16, 2019 via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  5. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Trillium reliquum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "trillium reliquum Freeman" (PDF). www.georgiawildlife.org. Retrieved November 15, 2009.[ dead link ]
  7. "Profile for Trillium reliquum (Confederate wakerobin)". USDA PLANTS. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
  8. "Endangered Species - Species ID". www.sas.usace.army.mil. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 Rumsey, Frank (2001). Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. p. 1540. ISBN   9780761471943.
  10. "Relict Trillium (Trillium reliquum) Species Profile". www.goldendelighthoney.com. Retrieved November 15, 2009.