Tag: trillium fever

5-and-a-half-acres:

Another trillium ID required for this lovely one. Thanks in advance. 

@treemigration

@kihaku-gato

And for whoever else knows. 

Likeliest candidates are either Trillium erectum (a yellow form or hybrid of it. Not all Trillium collectors recognize the yellow form as the pure species as the hybrids tend to oftentimes come out with yellow petals), or Trillium sulcatum forma albolutescens. Former is likelier than the latter in regards to access in the horticultural trade, as T. erectum has the larger natural wild range in the east (and hence horticultural access) than T. sulcatum.

Considering either species are native to east NA and not the west, you have quite the enviable collection of Trilliums in your locality.

Offtopic but on the same tangent on Trilliums, unless I’m mistaken there is only one species of Trillium which is native to the BC area; Trillium ovatum the Western White Trillium.

I feel pain for anyone who has to ID Trilliums for a living though. Many of them can look so damn similar, google tends to overlap images for different species as if they’re identical so you’re out of luck using that as a reference, and without context of natural geography along with other visual details you’re pretty much screwed over unless you know very very subtle anatomical details (if you’re lucky you get very obvious details like the colour of the ovum before v after pollination, but even that can only get you so far).

Take “White Trillium”  for example; Most of you upon hearing that name probably imagined Trillium grandiflorum. However, counting that species there are actually at least 15 kinds of white trillium. 2 of which are Sessile form, 4 of which are Asian species (yes Asia has a small select set of Trillium species). Not going to share images cause as I said, google isn’t dependable for all of them but among the species of white trillium there are (*sound of me turning the pages of my old Trilliums book before I begin*);

Among non-sessile NA species

  • Trillium flexipes
  • Trillium erectum forma album
  • Trillium grandiflorum
  • Trillium ovatum
  • Trillium cernuum
  • Trillium nivale
  • Trillium persistens
  • Trillium rivale
  • Trillium rugelii
  • Trillium simile

Among sessile NA species

  • Trillium albidium
  • Trillium parviflorum

Among Asian species

  • Trillium camschatcense
  • Trillium hagae
  • Trillium tschonoskii

Some genera like Trillium can be so goddamn messy augh I haven’t even included hybrids and stuff. It’s nonetheless amazing.