North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Trillium vaseyi

Trillium vaseyi Harbison

sweet beth, sweet trillium, sweet wakerobin, vasey’s trillium

Image ID: 19077
Image by: Ware, Richard & Teresa
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: TRVA2
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Trillium vaseyi
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-12-17

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: TRILL
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Trillium
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Trillium
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 50 species, of e. North America, w. North America, and e. Asia (especially se. North America). The genus Trillium in our area is difficult and complex. Trillium is now usually separated from the Liliaceae (along with Eurasian genera such as Paris) into the Trilliaceae (Zomlefer 1996, Kato et al. 1995, Kawano & Kato 1995, and others) or less drastically as part of the Melanthiaceae (Chase et al. 2000; Tamura et al. 2004). The traditonal division of the genus into two well-marked subgenera, subgenus Trillium, the pedicellate trilliums, and subgenus Sessilium (formerly often called Phyllantherum; see Reveal & Gandhi [2014]), the sessile-flowered trilliums, has been partly supported by molecular and morphological phylogenetic studies (Kawano & Kato 1995, Kato et al. 1995). These studies support the monophyly of subgenus Sessilium, but suggest that subgenus Trillium consists of several groups which are only rather distantly related (Kawano & Kato 1995, Kazempour Osaloo et al. 1999; Farmer & Schilling 2002).
GENUS IDENTIFICATION: Identification notes: Teratological forms are frequent in some species, as, for instance, leaves, sepals, and stamens in 2s or 4s, petals sepaloid, or sepals petaloid, and so forth. What are called “leaves” in Trillium are actually interpreted as bracts by some. Most species are slow-growing perennials; seedlings, juveniles, and depauperate or tired plants are one-leaved (monilliums), recognizable by the similar color, texture and venation of the single leaf to the three leaves of mature plants. In some species, such as T. undulatum and taxa of the T. pusillum complex, individual plants remain in the single-leaf stage for long periods of time, and populations may consist largely of juvenile plants.
GENUS REFERENCES: Patrick (1986)=Z; Patrick (2007)=V; Freeman (1975)=Y; Case & Case 1997=X; Patrick in Wofford (1989); Case in FNA (2002a); Mitchell (1990); Kato et al. (1995); Kawano & Kato (1995); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a); Zomlefer (1996); Farmer & Schilling (2002). Key adapted from Patrick (1986, 2007), unpublished keys of J.D. Freeman and S. Farmer, and other sources.

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: TRILLI
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Trilliaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: Lindley 1846
FAMILY COMMON: Trillium Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of 5 genera and about 80 species, perennial herbs, of temperate Northern Hemisphere. The Trilliaceae is clearly monophyletic and strongly characterized morphologically, scarcely resembling its sibling groups; its recognition as a family seems well-warranted.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Farmer & Schilling (2002).

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Erect perennial of cove and other rich forests; a southern Appalachian endemic.
STEMS: Stems slender, unbranched, smooth.
LEAVES: Leaves 3 in a whorl at top of stem, sessile, broadly oval to diamond-shaped with rounded angles, about 8 in. long.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flower solitary on a long stalk from center of leaf whorl, curved down below leaves; maroon (rarely white); to 4 in. wide; consisting of 3 recurved, strongly overlapping oval petals, 3 spreading green sepals, 6 stamens with long anthers and a purplish-black ovary;
FRUITS: Fruit a dark reddish-maroon, fleshy, nearly round capsule resembling a berry.
COMMENTS: Flowers with a pungent, rose-like fragrance.
HEIGHT: 12-28 in.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Whorled
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: Late Apr-early Jun

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
			x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR: Maroon

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
	x									x

FRUITING PERIOD:

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Moist forests
NATIVE RANGE: NC, SC, TN, GA & AL

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE:
LIGHT EXPOSURE:
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE:
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
1025	HORT	2005-08-03	Lewandowski	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
7577	2000-0340	2000-10-16		View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
10665	7577	75	NCBG staff	2000-10-17	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: TRVA2
USDA Common Name: Sweet Wakerobin
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (AL, GA, NC, SC, TN, VA)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Trillium vaseyi
COMMON NAME: Sweet Trillium, Vasey’s Trillium, Sweet Beth
SYNONYMY: [= FNA, K, S, Tn, V, W, X, Z; < T. erectum var. vaseyi (Harbison) H.E. Ahles - RAB (also see T. simile and T. flexipes)]
PHENOLOGY: Late Apr-early Jun.
HABITAT: Cove forests, other rich forests.
COMMENTS: This species is a Southern Appalachian endemic: w. NC and e. TN south to nw. SC, n. GA, and ne. AL, but extending south into the Coastal Plain of GA and AL. Perhaps the largest trillium species, with the stems to 7 dm tall. Petals maroon or white.
RANGE MAP: Trillium vaseyi.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Trilliaceae Lindley 1846 (Trillium Family)
SUMMARY: A family of 5 genera and about 80 species, perennial herbs, of temperate Northern Hemisphere. The Trilliaceae is clearly monophyletic and strongly characterized morphologically, scarcely resembling its sibling groups; its recognition as a family seems well-warranted.
REFERENCE: Farmer & Schilling (2002).

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Trillium L. (Trillium)
SUMMARY: A genus of about 50 species, of e. North America, w. North America, and e. Asia (especially se. North America). The genus Trillium in our area is difficult and complex. Trillium is now usually separated from the Liliaceae (along with Eurasian genera such as Paris) into the Trilliaceae (Zomlefer 1996, Kato et al. 1995, Kawano & Kato 1995, and others) or less drastically as part of the Melanthiaceae (Chase et al. 2000; Tamura et al. 2004). The traditonal division of the genus into two well-marked subgenera, subgenus Trillium, the pedicellate trilliums, and subgenus Sessilium (formerly often called Phyllantherum; see Reveal & Gandhi [2014]), the sessile-flowered trilliums, has been partly supported by molecular and morphological phylogenetic studies (Kawano & Kato 1995, Kato et al. 1995). These studies support the monophyly of subgenus Sessilium, but suggest that subgenus Trillium consists of several groups which are only rather distantly related (Kawano & Kato 1995, Kazempour Osaloo et al. 1999; Farmer & Schilling 2002).
REFERENCE: Patrick (1986)=Z; Patrick (2007)=V; Freeman (1975)=Y; Case & Case 1997=X; Patrick in Wofford (1989); Case in FNA (2002a); Mitchell (1990); Kato et al. (1995); Kawano & Kato (1995); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a); Zomlefer (1996); Farmer & Schilling (2002). Key adapted from Patrick (1986, 2007), unpublished keys of J.D. Freeman and S. Farmer, and other sources.

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Trillium vaseyi in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Trillium vaseyi in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Trillium vaseyi in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Trillium vaseyi in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Trillium vaseyi in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Trillium vaseyi

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 19077 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 25772 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 0 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 19077 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)