Trillium rugelii

Taxobox
name = Southern Nodding Trillium


status = G3
status_system = TNC
status_ref = Cite web
publisher =NatureServe
title = Trillium rugelii
work = NatureServe Explorer
url = http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Trillium+rugelii+
accessdate = 2008-05-02]
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Liliales
familia = Melanthiaceae
genus = "Trillium"
species = "T. rugelii"
binomial = "Trillium rugelii"

"Trillium rugelii", the Southern Nodding Trillium, is a spring flowering perennial plant which is native to parts of the southeastern United States. Like a few other trillium species ("T. catesbaei," "T. cernuum," "T. vaseyi" and some "T. flexipes"), it hangs its flower below the leaves. It prefers to grow near streams in humus-rich soil under the shade of deciduous trees. It is in the Great Smoky Mountains, Fernbank Forest, Steven's Creek Heritage Preserve, and other places of the Piedmont and southern Appalachian Mountains in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In the past, many authors cited specimens as "T. cernuum", which has a similar though smaller flower with shorter stamens and thinner petals. Also, "T. cernuum" grows farther north and is less robust.

References

*Case, Frederick W. and Case, Roberta B. (1997) "Trilliums". ISBN 0-88192-374-5