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Trillium persistens Duncan
Persistent Trillium
Federal Protection: Listed Endangered
State Protection: Endangered
Global Rank: G1
State Rank: S1
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: Highest Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 6
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Mesic hardwood forests, upland forests
Perennial herb with erect stems up to 12 inches (30 cm) tall. Its leaves are 1 - 3.3 inches (3 - 8.5 cm) long and 0.6 - 1.4 inches (1.5 - 3.5 cm) wide, lance-shaped, dark green, in a whorl of 3 leaves at the top of the stem. The flower stalk is 0.5 - 1.2 inches (1.2 - 3 cm) long, rising from the center of the whorl of leaves. The flower is solitary with 3 petals, 0.8 - 1.4 inches (2 - 3.5 cm) long and 0.2 - 0.4 inch (0.5 - 1 cm) wide, not overlapping at the base, delicate in texture with slightly wavy edges, white, turning pink-purple with age. There are 3 pale green sepals, slightly spreading, narrower than the petals and less than 3/4 the length of the petals, with bluntly pointed tips and pale edges. Six straight stamens with white stalks (filaments) and yellow pollen sacs (anthers) encircle a greenish-white ovary. The fruit is an oval, fleshy capsule up to 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) long.
Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is a much larger plant, 8 - 20 inches (20 - 50 cm) tall, with leaves 3 - 6 inches (8 - 15 cm) wide at midpoint, and flowers that are 1.6 - 3 inches (4 - 8 cm) long; the petals overlap at the base, forming a tube, then flare outward at the tips.
Catesby’s Trillium (Trillium catesbaei) is 6 - 16 inches (15 - 40 cm) tall; it has nodding flowers with strongly recurved petals, twisted yellow anthers, and are held below the leaves.
There are at least 22 named species of Trillium in Georgia, 12 of which are rare:
Trillium decipiens (Mimic Trillium) occurs in moist hardwood forests and limesink forests in southwest Georgia. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=20231
Trillium delicatum (Ocmulgee Trillium) occurs in central Georgia in moist to wet floodplain forests with high pH soils. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=34971
Trillium discolor (Pale Yellow Trillium) occurs in moist hardwood forests only in the Savannah River watershed. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=18320
Trillium flexipes (Bent Trillium) occurs in moist hardwood forests over limestone in northwest Georgia. For more information, see: http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Trillium_flexipes
Trillium lancifolium (Lanceleaf Trillium) occurs in floodplain forests and lower slopes over basic soils in widely scattered locations in Georgia. For more information, see: http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Trillium_lancifolium
Trillium persistens (Persistent Trillium, Edna's Trillium) occurs in mixed Pine-Hemlock-hardwood forests in ravines or along streams in northeast Georgia, often with rhododendrons or in lowbush blueberry thickets. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=19927
Trillium pusillum (Dwarf Trillium) occurs in seasonally wet, red maple-blackgum-oak woods in calcium-rich, clay soils in northwest Georgia. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=18756
Trillium reliquum (Relict Trillium) occurs in mature hardwood forests in rich ravines and on stream terraces, over calcium-rich bedrock such as amphibolite or limestone. For more information, see: https://www.georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=17442
Trillium simile (Sweet White Trillium) occurs in Georgia's Blue Ridge mountains in rich coves or slopes over mafic rocks, often in or near seepage. For more information, see: http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Trillium_simile
Trillium sp. [newly recognized, unnamed species] (Lookout Mountain Toadshade) occurs in rich forests in northwest Georgia, southeast Tennessee, and northeast Alabama; it resembles Trillium ludovicianum.
Trillium sp. [newly recognized, unnamed species] (Amicalola Trillium) occurs in Blue Ridge cove forests in Georgia and South Carolina; it resembles Trillium simile.
Trillium sulcatum (Barksdale Trillium) occurs in rich, moist hardwood forests in northwest Georgia. For more information, see: http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Trillium_sulcatum
Mixed Pine-Hemlock-hardwood forests in ravines or along streams, often under Rhododendrons or in clearings dominated by Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum) thickets.
Trilliums are perennial herbs that send up stems, leaves, and flowers in early spring, after temperatures have risen but before the forest canopy has leafed out. After flowering and fruiting, the aboveground plant disappears, persisting through the late summer, fall, and winter as an underground rhizome. Seeds shed in the summer germinate the following spring and, within a year or two, send up a single, spatula-shaped seed leaf (cotyledon) for one year’s growing season. The next year, a true leaf is produced and, in subsequent years, three-leaved plants appear. After 5 - 7 years (possibly fewer in the Coastal Plain), the plant produces a flowering stalk. Trillium seeds have small, fat-rich appendages called elaiosomes that are appealing to ants, yellow jackets, and other wasps, which carry the seed back to their nests, inadvertently dispersing the trillium seeds. Seeds are dispersed longer distances when the fruits are eaten by other animals such as deer and woodchucks. Some seeds are left where they fall if the elaiosomes are eaten off by beetles, resulting in clusters of seedlings near the parent plant. Some trilliums produce clonal rhizome offshoots that develop into immature plants that are eventually separated from the parent plant as the rhizomes decay. Mature trillium plants are very long-lived, perhaps living more than 100 years, but since the rhizome continues to lengthen and produce shoots on one end, while the other end decays, it is impossible to determine age from rhizome growth scars.
Surveys are best conducted during flowering (early-March–mid-April).
Four square miles of the Tallulah -Tugaloo River system in Georgia and South Carolina (only one population is known in South Carolina).
Logging, clearing, trail construction, trampling, poaching, deer browsing, competition from invasive pest plants, and habitat degradation due to the death of Eastern Hemlock from Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) infestation.
| Threat 1 | Threat 2 | Threat 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Threat | Natural system modifications | Climate change & severe weather | Transportation & service corridors |
| Specific Threat | None | None | None |
Trillium persistens is ranked S1 by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, indicating that the species is critically imperiled in Georgia. It is listed as Endangered by both the State of Georgia and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Seven populations have been documented in Georgia, most on National Forest or state park land.
Protect populations from logging, clearing, trail construction, or other mechanical disturbances. Protect plants from trampling and collecting. Eradicate invasive pest plants such as Japanese Honeysuckle, Kudzu, and English Ivy. Treat hemlock trees that shade populations of Trillium persistens to control HWA. Reduce the size of Georgia's deer herd.
Case, F.W. Jr. 2003. Trillium persistens species account. Flora of North America, Vol. 26. Oxford University Press, New York. http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Trillium_persistens
Chafin, L.G. 2007. Field guide to the rare plants of Georgia. State Botanical Garden of Georgia and University of Georgia Press, Athens.
Duncan, W.H., J.F. Garst, and G.A. Neese. 1971. Trillium persistens (Liliaceae), a new pedicellate-flowered species from northeastern Georgia and adjacent North Carolina. Rhodora 73: 244-248. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23308447?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Farmer, S.B. 2007. A systematic study of Trillium subgenus Delostylis. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Tennessee. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4235/
Farmer, S.B. 2006. Trillium and the Trillium family (Trilliaceae). http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium
Farmer, S.B. and E.E. Schilling. 2002. Phylogenetic analyses of Trilliaceae based on morphological and molecular data. Systematic Botany 27: 674-692. https://bioone.org/journals/Systematic-Botany/volume-27/issue-4/0363-6445-27.4.674/Phylogenetic-Analyses-of-Trilliaceae-based-on-Morphological-and-Molecular-Data/10.1043/0363-6445-27.4.674.full
GADNR. 2020. Element occurrence records for Trillium persistens. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Social Circle, Georgia.
Garst, J. and J. Sullivan. 1993. Tugaloo mosaic. Tipularia: Journal of the Georgia Botanical Society, Volume 8. https://www.gabotsoc.org/?page_id=10256
Kral, R. 1983. A report on some rare, threatened, or endangered forest-related vascular plants of the South. Technical Publication R8-TP2. United States Forest Service, Atlanta.
Leege, L. M., J. S. Thompson, and D.J. Parris. 2010. The responses of rare and common Trilliums (Trillium reliquum, T. cuneatum, and T. maculatum) to deer herbivory and invasive honeysuckle removal. Castanea 75(4): 433-443.
NatureServe. 2020. Trillium persistens species account. NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.147783/Trillium_persistens
Ohara, M. 1989. Life history evolution in the genus Trillium. Plant Species Biology 4:1-28. https://esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1442-1984.1989.tb00044.x
Patrick, T.S. 2007. Trilliums of Georgia. Tipularia, Journal of the Georgia Botanical Society 22: 3 - 22.
Patrick, T.S., J.R. Allison, and G.A. Krakow. 1995. Protected plants of Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Program, Social Circle.
Plank, C.M. 2010. The demography and community characterization of the federally endangered herb, Trillium persistens: a study across its range including a fire-dependent habitat. M.S. Thesis, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/745/
USFWS. 2020. Persistent Trillium (Trillium persistens) species profile, recovery plan, and related documents. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?sId=3583http://endangered.fws.gov
Vellend, M., J. Myers, S. Gardescu, and P. Marks. 2003. Dispersal of Trillium seeds by deer: implications for long-distance migration of forest herbs. Ecology 84(4):1067-1072. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/0012-9658%282003%29084%5B1067%3ADOTSBD%5D2.0.CO%3B2
Weakley, A.S. 2015. Flora of the southern and mid-Atlantic States. University of North Carolina Herbarium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm
Zettler, J. A., T. P. Spira, and A. A. Craig. 2001. Yellow Jackets (Vespula spp.) disperse Trillium spp. seeds in Eastern North America. American Midland Naturalist 146(2): 444-446. https://bioone.org/journals/The-American-Midland-Naturalist/volume-146/issue-2/0003-0031(2001)146[0444:YJVSDT]2.0.CO;2/Yellow-Jackets-Vespula-spp-Disperse-Trillium-spp-Seeds-in-Eastern/10.1674/0003-0031(2001)146[0444:YJVSDT]2.0.CO;2.full
Linda G. Chafin
L. Chafin, Jan. 2009: original account.
K. Owers, Feb. 2010: added pictures.
L. Chafin, June 2020: updated original account.
