Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club/Volume 1/06

BULLETIN
OF THE
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB.
Vol. 1. ]	New-York, June, 1870.	[ No. 6.

21

47. the prevailing Trillium here — are occasionally met with in this vicinity, and brief mention of the extent of the variation may not be uninteresting for comparison with similar accounts from other localities.   The forms found here have petals more or less turned to green, with long petioled smaller leaves, borne lower down on the stem; or with stem leaves entirely wanting, and a single radical leaf instead.  The Calyx of the leafless stemed form appears larger and more leafy.  Hepatica triloba and Solea concolor, mentioned by Mr. Hall in Nos. 2 and 3 of the Bulletin, grow here.

Newark, Wayne, Co., N. Y.

E. L. Hankensen.

48. From observations made in my pretty extensive tramps in the woods of Central and Western New York, where T. erectum and T. grandiflorum, Salisb. are exceedingly abundant, I am inclined to think that the Var. album is only an accidental thing.   The parts of the Trillium plants that appear above ground so entirely disappear in summer, that we cannot keep a perfectly strict watch of the same root without digging it up; but I have watched individual plants of this variety as closely as possible, and seen the regular purple flowrer in their place the next year; and have also seen the Var. album flower in places where the year before a purple flower had appeared.  I have noticed, too, that, as a rule, the Var. album is a starveling; rarely as large or as healthy as the purple plants in the midst of which it grows.  Also, I have rarely found a Var. album away from the company of the normal plant, and never more than three or four plants together, though they are quite common.  As to the color of the petals, I have seen them of all shades, from creamy yellow, or greenish white, to the normal purple; sometimes with a blush of purple in the central part of the petal; sometimes with faint streaky tinges of purple lengthwise of the petal, though not at all like T. erythrocarpum, Michx.  It has also, less scent.  My strong impression is that it is simply an unhealthy state of the T. erectum.

I do not know whether I have ever seen Gray's Var. declinatum but in the woods of Central New York one may often see myriads of the T. erectum, with the peduncles all bent down, so that the flower is under the leaves; as completely deflexed as that of T. cernuum, L, but not otherwise like it.   I have sometimes walked for a whole day, and scarcely seen a plant whose flower was not thus deflexed; at other times, and in other places, I have noticed these in the company of, and mingled with, erect ones.  The peduncle is deflexed, with a sharp angular bend, just above the leaves, and not by any curving or drooping.  I have never met with the petals “white” or “pink,” as in Gray's description, but have seen them of the Var. album sort, now and then. Gray's description of T. erectum, L., in Manual, p. 523, speaks of the peduncle as “usually rather inclined than erect”; but whether that phrase is intended to cover the entirely deflexed state, I do not know.

Trillium grandiflorum takes very well to cultivation, increases and thrives in gardens, and is worth introducing.   T. erectum thrives equally, but is hardly as desirable: T. erythrocarpum is very difficult to keep alive in a garden.

I. H. Hall.