Trillium recurvatum L.C.Beck

 

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.[5][6] 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. T. recurvatum is a host plant as well as food source for several insects and mammals.

Description

Trillium recurvatum grows up to 40 cm (16 in) tall with three ovate to lanceolate bracts, mottled green, 6 to 18 cm (2 to 7 in) long and 2 to 6.5 cm (1 to 3 in) across, petiolate at maturity. The plant grows both individually and in clusters, though usually not in large groups.

The flower has three brown to maroon petals that are 1.8 to 4.8 cm (1 to 2 in) long and 0.9 to 2 cm (0 to 1 in) across, with the petal tips arching over the stamens. The sepals are recurved, pointing downwards when the flower has fully opened. The anthers are also dark purple, up to 16 mm (1 in) long. The stigmas are recurved at the tips. It is distinguished from other sessile-flowered Trillium species, such as Trillium sessile, by its reflexed sepals.

The fruit is green, sometimes streaked with purple or white, with six well-developed ridges. The seeds have an oil-rich structure called an elaiosome, which promotes dispersal by ants and other foraging insects.

The pollen ranges in diameter from 15-26μm, and has a thin, bristly covering. Like other Trillium species, the pollen of T. recurvatum is spherical, fragile, and has internal channels. T. recurvatum pollen bears the closest resemblance to that of Trillium lancifolium, with both sharing many morphological features, although with somewhat different ranges in diameter.

A spring ephemeral, T. recurvatum emerges in early spring, and becomes dormant in midsummer if flowering, and early summer if not. Younger plants, therefore, become dormant earlier than mature plants (roughly six to seven years old), which can remain in bloom throughout early summer. Mature T. recurvatum can also produce berries when pollinated, shortly before dormancy.

T. recurvatum can reproduce asexually by spreading through rhizomatous growth, as well as sexually through insect pollination. Because the species is self-incompatible, it relies on pollinators to deliver enough pollen to produce seeds, with this posing a greater barrier to sexual reproduction than deficiencies in other resources. The plant produces a high number of seeds when pollinated, although very few grow successfully.

 

Trillium recurvatum - Wikipedia