March 4th, 2013. Dimpled
troutlillies (Erythronium umbilicatum) are among the earliest wildflowers in
this area. We’ve found them at the Davidson-Arabia Mountain in DeKalb County at
the Bradley Mountain trailhead and along the bank by the trail on the west side
of Arabia Lake. The best concentration of plants we’ve found so far, however,
has been in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in Jones County, Georgia. We
photographed them in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in 2011 but they didn’t bloom well last
year.
It was getting a bit late
but we drove down to the Piedmont NWR on the off-chance that they might be
blooming again this year. In past years, we’d arrive at this spot later in the
afternoon when it was cloudy or after the sun had dropped behind the trees to
the west. This time, we reversed our route and arrived at the spot while the
sun was still shining on the embankment where many plants bloom. We were in
luck and just in time. We didn’t find any plants with buds; all flowers had
opened.
A cluster of lilies were
blooming in the grass at the edge of the woods. The leaves were partially
covered with grass and the flowers ‘blended’ into their background.
We made our way along the
embankment at the edge of the woods…
This flower had opened
completely. The petals had curled back over themselves. To the right and a
little above is a trillium (Toadshade Trillium, Trillium cuneatum); it doesn’t
have a bud and won’t bloom this year. The long, glossy leaves are evidence of
Atamasco lillies (Zephyranthes atamasca) which will bloom in a few weeks.
A closer view of an
individual plant.
The upped sides of petals
of some flowers were pale whereas others were more intensely colored.
Looking at the flower from
below
This year, we saw the
anthers in different stages of development…
These images show anthers
in various stages of development. One anther is ‘smooth’, showing no visible
pollen, another anther is maturing at the top showing pollen, and a third
anther is ‘powdery’ with pollen along its length, and another has almost dried
up. The pollen is purple, an indication that these were, indeed, the Dimpled
Troutlily (E. umbilicatum) rather than the Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium
americanum) which typically has yellow pollen.
A closer view.
The anthers on these flowers, although pollen is still present,
are beginning to dry out. The style and pink stigma are clearly visible in
these images.
A
closer view
We
also found that a couple of plants had well-developed seedpods. These seedpods
were clearly ‘dimpled’, another indication that these are E. umbilicatum rather
than E. americanum which does not have the dimpled tip.
There
are two Erythronium species with yellow flowers that occur in Georgia: E.
umbilicatum and E. americanum. At a casual glance, they appear identical but
can be differentiated based on the color of the pollen and the shape of the
seedpod.
Erythronium
umbilicatum (Dimpled Troutlily) is native to the United States, being found
from Maryland west to Kentucky, south to Georgia and Florida. In Georgia, it is found in counties in North
Georgia and extending into some counties in the Upper Coastal Plain.
Erythronium americanum (Dogtooth Violet) is native
to North America, being found in the Canada (Maritime Provinces, Quebec and Ontario)
and the United States from Minnesota south to Louisiana and east to Georgia;
it’s not been documented in Florida. In Georgia, it has only been documented,
with specimens, from four counties: Union, Stephens, Oglethorpe, and Baldwin.
Both
Erythronium species are distributed most densely in the southeastern states
with E. americanum is distributed more
widely than E. umbilicatum.
Jim
Fowler recently published a post - Erythronium americanum (Trout lily, Dogtooth violet) — an early-blooming wildflower – that
shows how similar the flowers of this species are to E. umbilicatum but also
clearly shows the yellow pollen. Occasionally, according to Name that Plant, E.
umbilicatum flowers may have yellow pollen leaving the dimple-shaped seedpods
as the easiest observable characteristic to differentiate this species from E.
americanum. Images in the Southeastern Flora sites include photographs of the
seedpods of each of these species.
It
was encouraging to see these lilies blooming again in this location and to see
the dimpled seedpods that confirmed this identification.
Click
on an image to view a larger image
Identification Resources:
Southeastern Flora:
- Erythronium umbilicatum (Dimpled Troutlily)
Distribution:
United
States Department of Agriculture Plants Database:
Related
posts:
