Trillium maculatum

Trillium maculatum, the spotted wakerobin or spotted trillium,^[5][6] is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, a closely related group of sessile-flowered trilliums. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States, ranging across Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and northern Florida.

Trillium maculatum
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Melanthiaceae
Genus:	Trillium
Species:	T. maculatum
Binomial name
Trillium maculatum Raf.[3]
Synonyms[4]
Trillium maculatum Trillium maculatum f. luteum J.D.Freeman Trillium maculatum f. simulans J.D.Freeman

Description

Trillium maculatum 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).^[7] It has a sessile flower (no flower stalk), erect petals, and mottled leaves.^[8] Its flower petals are deep red or reddish-purple but occasionally yellow.^[6]

Taxonomy

A botanical illustration of Trillium maculatum published by Mark Catesby in 1730.

Trillium maculatum was named and described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1830.^[3] The specific epithet maculatum means "spotted",^[9] a reference to the conspicuously marked leaves of some forms of this species.^[10] Although Rafinesque described a plant with spotted stems,^[11] later authors have not confirmed that character.^{[citation needed]}

In his description of Trillium sessile in 1753,^[12][13] the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus referred to an earlier description and illustration of a taxon published by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in 1730.^[14] However, Catesby's illustration was identified as Trillium maculatum by the American botanist John Daniel Freeman in 1975.^[15] As a result of Linnaeus' misinterpretation of Catesby's illustration, numerous authors erroniously applied the name Trillium sessile prior to 1830.

Trillium maculatum is a member of the Trillium cuneatum complex, a group of eight taxa including Trillium luteum and Trillium cuneatum (in the strict sense).^[16] All members of the complex are sessile-flowered trilliums (Trillium subgen. Sessilia).

Distribution and habitat

Trillium maculatum is endemic to the southeastern United States, ranging across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida.^[4][17]

Ecology

Trillium maculatum flowers early February to early April.^[18]