Incorrectly labelled Trillium

[t00lie]

 With those words  I would have used T. 'Garden raised Western hybrids', 

Yes that reads a lot better Wim .......

[greenspan]

yes it's a real mess with the sessile flowering Trilliums. i thought i grow Trillium kurabayshii in my garden, have a lot of plants from different sources. their shape is very uniform. but when we had a discussion about identifying chloropetalum/kurabayashii in a german garden forum, i checked the Trillium key in Flora of North America to find a significant, but easy to use characteristic to distinguish these 2 species...i guess i found it...it's the proportion of stamen to carpel and the length of the connective (the tissue between the pollen sacs). pics show more than words can explain, so i made a collage to show the differences. the chloropetalum flower detail is from one of my garden plants, the kurabayshii foto is from internet, token in the wild in oregon (to be shure, that it is not mistaken with chloropetalum). the pointers are in german, but you will know, what i want to say + for what you have looking for....hope this helps. any hint is welcome when a mistake is found.

[Maggi Young]

The problem with the key is that there is no clue as to what stage the measurements should be taken.  Should it be before or after the anthers dehisce?  The measurements change considerably over the different stages of  flowering. Even in greenspan's pictures the flowers are at different stages - the left hand side has begun to dehisce while the right has not....

[shelagh]

I think I'll leave it to someone else to decide it's making my brain hurt.

[greenspan]

thank you maggi for this aspect...that's true, but the anthers of chloropetalum won't get shorter while they ripens more till the pollen sacs opens and so the main aspect of the significant proportion of stamen to carpel of about 2:1 is still remaining.

shelagh...plant enthusiasts are a bit masochists

[shelagh]

You're right greenspan but don't forget to add in the paranoia as well.