In flower now at Juniper Level Botanic Garden (JLBG) is the newest published species of toadshade, Trillium delicatum, which became official last week! Trillium delicatum, which from a distance could be confused with Trillium decumbens hails from central Georgia, where it’s found growing in floodplains. DNA studies found that it is more closely related to the Alabama-centered Trillium stamineum.
This leaves only fifteen more potentially new species in the Southeast US that are currently being studied for future naming…pretty exciting times.
As an ex-situ conservation garden and since we do not endorse sales from plants collected in the wild, our JLBG propagation team are working to make this available from seed, so keep your eyes peeled.
What a lovely Trillium. Why is it called “delicatum”?
The name “delicatum” has a threefold interpretation:
one is that the small plants are relatively frail in
general; second, the destruction potential of the habitat by wild
pigs make the plants vulnerable; and third is an obscure use of
the adjective delicate that infers something to be very subtle in
difference or distinction. All imply a sensitive, delicate, and
easily damaged but alluring little trillium.
Thanks so much, I was not expecting all of those inferences from the one little word “delicatum.”