Identification of Trillium ovatum
Trillium ovatum is a white-flowered pedicellate trillium native to western North America. For decades, botanists have recognized two taxa, but based on unpublished data circulated in 2019, Plants of the World Online (and therefore iNaturalist) came to recognize four taxa. An identification key for this group of trilliums appeared in a journal article in March 2024, but since the article is not easily accessible, the key has been reproduced in the following document:
- Identification of Trillium ovatum (googledoc)
A full citation to the journal article plus links to related resources are included in the linked document.
Comments
Thank you for the link to the reproduced key!
@hmheinz you're welcome!
The paper also includes these comments on Trillium crassifolium, which provides additional features that may be useful for distinguishing it:
"In addition to the phylogenetic data presented above, T. crassifolium is morphologically, ecologically, and phenologically distinct from the T. ovatum complex (Wright, unpublished data). It frequently bears greatly expanded and deeply veined sepals, and the petals arch steeply away from the calyx to approximate a narrow tube around the androecium and gynoecium at anthesis. This species occupies drier and more open habitats than adja- cent populations of the T. ovatum complex, and it also tends to flower earlier."
@ddennism thanks for adding that excerpt from Wayman et al. 2024
Add a Comment