Trillium cuneatum

Trillium cuneatum is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, along with its closest relatives, Trillium luteum and Trillium maculatum. Trillium cuneatum is paraphyletic and morphologically variable. Some populations currently considered to be T. cuneatum are more closely related to T. maculatum than to other T. cuneatum populations. It may be split in the future into several monophyletic species with greater morphological uniformity.{{sfnp|Lampley|2021|loc=Ch. 2}} All members of the complex are sessile-flowered trilliums.

Trillium cuneatum is a perennial, herbaceous, flowering plant that persists by means of an underground rhizome. Like all trilliums, it has a whorl of three bracts (leaves) and a single trimerous flower with three sepals, three petals, two whorls of three stamens each, and three carpels (fused into a single ovary with three stigmas).{{r|FNA:133668}} It has a sessile flower (no flower stalk), erect petals, and mottled leaves.{{r|FNA:312201}} The broad leaves surround a banana-scented flower with maroon, bronze, green, or yellow petals.{{r|Carman 2001}} It is known for its morphological variability between (and even within) geographically distributed populations.{{sfnp|Freeman|1975|p=36}}

Trillium cuneatum was first described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1840.{{r|IPNI:542532-1}} The specific epithet cuneatum, which means "narrow below and wide above, wedge-shaped",{{r|Gledhill 2008}} refers to the tapered shape of the basal half of its flower petal.{{sfnp|Case|Case|1997|p=172}} {{As of|March 2023}}, the name Trillium cuneatum {{small|Raf.}} is widely recognized.{{r|POWO:542532-1|FNA:242101987|USDA:TRCU|FSUS 2022}} The species is a member of the sessile-flowered trilliums (Trillium subgen. Sessilia), a group of species typified by Trillium sessile.{{sfnp|Lampley|Gereau|Floden|Schilling|2022|p=282}}

Based on morphology and molecular phylogenetic evidence, Trillium cuneatum sensu lato is paraphyletic. {{As of|March 2023}}, available evidence supports a species complex comprising eight distinct taxa, including Trillium luteum and Trillium maculatum, plus two new species (Trillium freemanii and Trillium radiatum).{{sfnp|Lampley|2021|loc=Ch. 2}}

{{As of|February 2022}}, Kew's Plants of the World Online accepts no infraspecific names for Trillium cuneatum.{{r|POWO:542532-1}} Some authorities recognize the name Trillium cuneatum f. luteum {{small|J.D.Freeman}},{{r|IPNI:258304-2}} a form marked by the absence of purple pigments from all floral parts. It occurs in the midst of purple-flowered plants throughout the range of the species.

Although both have yellow (or greenish-yellow) petals, Trillium cuneatum f. luteum {{small|J.D.Freeman}} is not regarded as the taxonomic or genetic equivalent of Trillium luteum {{small|(Muhl.) Harb.}}{{sfnp|Freeman|1975|pp=36-37}}

Trillium cuneatum is endemic to the southeastern United States, ranging from Kentucky southward to southern Mississippi, and to the eastern coast of South Carolina. It is native to Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.{{r|POWO:542532-1}} It has been widely introduced elsewhere, with naturalized populations in Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.{{r|BONAP}} There are hundreds of observations of T. cuneatum made by citizen scientists outside of its native range, in more than a dozen states, but especially in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York.{{r|iNat}}

Trillium cuneatum prefers to grow in rich soils in mostly upland woods, especially limestone soils but also at less calcareous sites. It is found at elevations of {{convert|50|–|400|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{r|FNA:242101987}}

In the southern part of its range, from Mississippi to Georgia, Trillium cuneatum begins to flower in early March, with peak flowering occurring around mid-March. In its northernmost populations, flowering occurs in April.{{sfnp|Case|Case|1997|p=173}}{{sfnp|Freeman|1975|p=36}} In the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee, fruits were observed to ripen and drop off between July 1 and July 10.{{sfnp|Shaver|1960|p=90}}

In general, Trillium species are myrmecochorous, that is, ants facilitate seed dispersal in most (if not all) species.{{r|NatureServe}} Since each seed of T. cuneatum has an attached elaiosome,{{sfnp|Shaver|1960|p=90}} presumably its seeds are dispersed by ants as well.

{{Reflist|40em|refs=

{{BONAP |genus=Trillium |species=cuneatum |date=2014 |access-date=3 February 2022}}

{{cite book |title=Wildflowers of Tennessee |first=Jack B.|last=Carman |publisher=Highland Rim Press |year=2001 |page=372}}

{{eFloras |1 |242101987 |Trillium cuneatum |volume=26 |last=Case Jr. |first=Frederick W. |access-date=30 March 2023}}

{{eFloras |1 |133668 |Trillium |volume=26 |last=Case Jr. |first=Frederick W. |access-date=29 March 2023}}

{{eFloras |1 |312201 |Trillium subg. Phyllantherum |volume=26 |last=Case Jr. |first=Frederick W. |access-date=29 March 2023}}

{{cite web |title=Trillium cuneatum {{small|Raf.}} |url=https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/show-taxon-detail.php?taxonid=495 |website=Flora of the Southeastern United States (2022 Edition) |access-date=30 March 2023}}

{{cite book |last1=Gledhill |first1=David |title=The Names of Plants |year=2008 |edition=4th |page=128 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ6PyhVuecwC |isbn=978-0-521-86645-3}}

{{cite web |title=Observations of Trillium cuneatum outside its native range |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?not_in_place=19,23,35,26,37,30,43,45&place_id=any&subview=table&taxon_id=123634 |publisher=iNaturalist |access-date=4 February 2022}}

{{IPNI |id=258304-2 |taxon=Trillium cuneatum f. luteum |authority={{small|J.D.Freeman}} |access-date=4 February 2022}}

{{IPNI |id=542532-1 |taxon=Trillium cuneatum |authority={{small|Raf.}} |access-date=30 March 2023}}

{{cite iucn|author1=Meredith, C.R.|author2=((Trillium Working Group 2019))|year=2020|title=Trillium cuneatum|page=e.T146084767A146089210|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T146084767A146089210.en|access-date=8 April 2024}}

{{Cite web |publisher=NatureServe |title=Trillium cuneatum |work=NatureServe Explorer |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.145281/Trillium_cuneatum |access-date=4 February 2022}}

{{cite POWO |id=542532-1 |title=Trillium cuneatum {{small|Raf.}} |access-date=31 March 2023}}

{{PLANTS |id=TRCU |taxon=Trillium cuneatum |access-date=30 March 2023}}

{{cite web |last1=Pistrang |first1=Mark |title=Little Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/trillium_cuneatum.shtml |publisher=United States Forest Service |access-date=3 February 2022}}

}}

• {{cite book |last1=Case |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Case |first2=Roberta B. |year=1997 |title=Trilliums |location=Portland, Oregon |publisher=Timber Press |pages=170–176 |isbn=978-0-88192-374-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/trilliums00case}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Freeman |first1=J. D. |title=Revision of Trillium subgenus Phyllantherum (Liliaceae) |journal=Brittonia |date=1975 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–62 |doi=10.2307/2805646 |jstor=2805646 |s2cid=20824379}}
• {{cite thesis |last=Lampley |first=Jayne A. |date=2021 |title=A systematic and biogeographic study of Trillium (Melanthiaceae) |type=PhD |publisher=University of Tennessee |url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/7031 |access-date=10 February 2022}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lampley |first1=Jayne A. |last2=Gereau |first2=Roy |last3=Floden |first3=Aaron |last4=Schilling |first4=Edward E. |title=A revised subgeneric classification of Trillium (Parideae, Melanthiaceae) |journal=Phytotaxa |date=2022-07-05 |volume=552 |issue=5 |pages=278–286 |doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.552.5.1|s2cid=250368253 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Shaver |first1=Jesse M. |title=Trillium cuneatum {{small|Raf.}} in Tennessee |journal=J. Of Tenn. Academy of Science |date=April 1960 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=81–91 |url=https://www.tennacadofsci.org/journal/articles/vol35/JTAS35-2-81-91.pdf |access-date=1 February 2022}}

• [http://bison.usgs.ornl.gov/api/scientificName/Trillium%20cuneatum/arguments/itis Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON) occurrence data and maps for Trillium cuneatum]
• {{inaturalist taxon |123634 |Little Sweet Betsy}}
• {{cite web |title=Trillium cuneatum |url=http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=4518 |website=Alabama Plant Atlas |access-date=9 February 2022}}
• {{cite web |title=Little Sweet Trillium - Trillium cuneatum {{small|Rafinesque}} |url=https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/flora/species_account.php?id=3525 |website=Vascular Plants of North Carolina |access-date=9 February 2022}}
• {{cite web |title=Toadshade (Trillium sessile {{small|L.}}) and Little Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum {{small|Raf.}}) |url=https://www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org/pages/plants/toadshade.html |website=The Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, Inc. |access-date=9 February 2022}}
• {{cite thesis |last=Adams |first=Alan B. |date=1975 |title=A Study of Trillium cuneatum and T. luteum |type=MS |publisher=University of Tennessee |url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3307 |access-date=23 February 2022}}

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cuneatum

Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States

Category:Flora of the Appalachian Mountains

Category:Flora of Illinois

Category:Flora of Pennsylvania

Category:Endemic flora of the United States

Category:Plants described in 1840

Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque