Trillium angustipetalum

Trillium angustipetalum, with the common name is narrowpetal wakerobin, is a species of Trillium, plants which may be included within the Liliaceae (lily family) or the newer family Melanthiaceae.

Description

Trillium angustipetalum is a rhizomatous perennial herb with one or more erect stems growing up to in height. There is a whorl of three large leaves generally described as bracts each measuring up to in length and round or somewhat oval. They are green and mottled with brownish or darker green spots.
Each stem produces one flower, which is held on top of the bracts. The ill-scented flower has three lance-shaped green or red sepals and three narrow purple or maroon petals measuring up to long.

Taxonomy

In 1856, John Torrey described Trillium sessile var. angustipetalum based on a specimen collected by John Milton Bigelow two years earlier in California. In 1975, John Daniel Freeman described the species Trillium angustipetalum based on Torrey's variety. The epithet angustipetalum means "narrow-petaled".

Distribution

The plant is native to northern and central California and southwestern Oregon, where it occurs in forests, woodlands, chaparral, and riparian zones. It is found in the Klamath Mountains, western Sierra Nevada foothills, and Outer Southern California Coast Ranges.