Trillium 2025

[Herman Mylemans]

Thank You, Herman! Would You call the trillium pictured a Trillium angustipetalum?

I think so, it is definitely not kurabyashii.
One problem is that if it comes from garden seed, crossbreeding is possible.

[Mariette]

(Attachment Link) This is how eflora differentiates T. angustipetalum and T. kurabyashii - by the anther connective.
The anther connective is the part that connects the left and right parts of the anther.

Here on T. nivale, the anther connective is green, the anther is yellow.  The (anther) sac extends beyond the anther connective.
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Here on T. cuneatum and T. sessile , the anther connective extends beyond the (anther) sac.
(Attachment Link) (Attachment Link)

http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101984

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Thank You very much, Rick! The next days I´ll check if I can sort them out! In Europe, Trillium chloropetalum is usually sold as the rarer and more expensive Trillium kurabayashii. Having grown some plants from US seed, I´m in the lucky position to have some true Trillium kurabayashii in my garden, as the connectives clearly show. Yet often features are puzzling - for instance, the petals of my putative Trillium angustipetalum are somewhat wider than they ought to be, according to Case & Case, they measure 2.3 mm. As the measures given for the different species are often overlapping, it possibly takes more experience to discern these species for sure.

This is one of the Trillium kurabayashii I grew.

[Mariette]

I think so, it is definitely not kurabyashii.
One problem is that if it comes from garden seed, crossbreeding is possible.

Thank You, Herman, You´re probably perfectly right: the hybrids are a problem in our gardens.

[Rick R.]

Sometimes it's incredibly difficult to distinguish species in any genera!  Somehow, you have to know what matters..... and what doesn't.  Color variation in petals is usually a poor characteristic to go by in most every genus.  You never see the greener forms of T. cuneatum in cultivation, for instance, but I have them from a friend who owns a woods that is covered with them:





And my favorite cuneatum pic:

[Mariette]

Rick, it´s great to get information from someone in whose country these plants actually grow! Two days ago, I visited a gardener who grows a very beautiful trillium he bought as Trillium kurabayashii: large flowers of a brilliant dark red. Really a very desirable plant, yet not kurabayashii, but chloropetalum.
Thanks for showing these interesting variations!

[Herman Mylemans]

Trillium chloropetalum var. giganteum

Trillium erectum

Trillium flexipes

Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum

[Herman Mylemans]

Trillium maculatum

Trillium pusillum var. pusillum

Trillium ludovicianum

[Knud]

We were given a pot of trillium seedlings 25 years ago that turned out to be a very attractive Trillium pusillum.

When it emerges from the ground in spring it is a very dark maroon colour. As the leaves spread and the bud appear it has ‘paled’ a little to a brownish red, with an olive-green tint. The back of the petals is a rosy pink, showing through as the buds crack open.  Fully open the flower is white against dark olive and maroon leaves. The leaves get greener as they age, and after about four weeks they are a clear forest green. During the last week or so of the five it has now been out, the flower gradually turns pink, and today it is almost the same rosy colour as the back of the petals.

In the pictures below I have tried to capture this transformation. They were taken with my phone this spring, between 10 April and 11 May. They have been cropped and reduced in size using Lightroom.

Knud