Trillium flexipes Raf.

Floden, Aaron J. & Knapp, Wesley M., 2023, Typification of the North American species of Trillium subg. Trillium (Melanthiaceae: Parideae), Phytotaxa 599 (3), pp. 193-200 : 196

Trillium flexipes Raf. , Autik. Bot. 133. 1840.

Type:— USA. Kentucky: s.d., Rafinesque s.n., ( P 1776245 digital image!, lectotype, designated here) .

Rafinesque (1840) described Trillium flexipes from plants in “West Kentucky and Tennessee ” with sessile leaves, 3-nerved, the peduncle “inclinato flexuoso,” lanceolate-acuminate sepals and white obovate-acute petals. No collector was provided in his description, but it was presumably one of his. A specimen at P ( P01776245 ) from the Durand Herbarium has a label that provides only “ Kentucky, Rafinesque. ” Given that this is the only likely type material that we have located, we have designated this as the lectotype .

Heterotypic synonyms: Trillium album Small , in part, see under T. rugelii .

Trillium cernuum var. declinatum f. walpolei Farw. , Rep. Michigan Acad. Sci. 21: 363. 1920. Type :— USA. Michigan: Washtenaw County, Ypsilanti , copses, flowers purple, 19 May 1918, Farwell 4849 ( BLH0000359 digital image!, lectotype designated here; isolectotypes: BLH0000360 digital image!, GH00030152 digital image!, MICH1192832 digital image!, MICH1192834 digital image!).

Note:— Patrick annotated the BLH specimen as lectotype , but he never published this. We formalize this here and designate BLH0000359 as lectotype .

Trillium cernuum var. declinatum f. billingtonii Farw ., Rep. (Annual) Michigan Acad. Sci. 21: 363. 1920. Type :— USA. Michigan: Washtenaw County, Ypsilanti , copses, flowers brown, 19 May 1918, Farwell 4850 ( MICH1192831 , lectotype designated here, digital image!; isolectotypes, BLH0000361 digital image!, BLH 00030151 digital image!, BLH0000362 digital image!, GH00030149 digital image!).

Note:— McVaugh annotated the MI specimen as lectotype. Patrick later also annotated this specimen as the lectotype, but neither officially published this designation.

Trillium erectum var. blandum Jennison , Rhodora 40: 486. 1938. Type:— USA. North Carolina: Swain Co., Opp. Ela, in rich shaded woods loam, elevation 1850 ft., 9 May 1937, Jennison 2185 (holotype: TENN; isotype: GSMNP01232 ). A paratype is at US .

Trillium flexipes f. walpolei (Farwell) Fernald , Rhodora 46: 17. 1944. Basionym: Trillium cernuum var. declinatum f. walpolei Farw. Fernald (1944) considered this to be a red-flowered form of T. flexipes and the anther and pollen color support this, though the status of these red-flowered T. flexipes -like plants remains unclear, but they could be hybrids with sympatric T. erectum .

Trillium flexipes is widely distributed over a large part of the Midwest from South Dakota eastward to Pennsylvania and south into northern Arkansas and Alabama. Over this area, it is variable in floral position (erect vs. reflexed or pendent) and fragrance ( Case & Case 1997, AF pers. obs.). Within some parts of this distribution, it is uniform in morphology, e.g., in northern Alabama ( Case & Case 1997, AF pers. obs.) where the plants have large upright flowers, overlapping large petals and an intense fragrance. In Missouri where AF has observed many plants the flowers are variably reflexed, declining, or horizontal and held just above the leaves to erect, but the flowers are smaller with narrowly ovate-lanceolate petals and without the distinctive powerful fragrance of some southern forms. Even within a geographic region, fragrance varies over the flowering period, and during a single day the fragrance varies from morning to afternoon (AF pers. obs.). For instance, Alabamian T. flexipes open with a distinctive mild tea rose-like fragrance discernible at close range in the early part of the day, but a southern magnolia-like fragrance is noticeable at a meter or more away by midday. Missouri forms have a mild, but pleasant floral fragrance.