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| A pink example of a hybrid trillium at Gobey. Trillium flexatum |
Hybrid Trilliums 2022
by Dana Koogler
Photos are here : Hybrid Trilliums 2022
Dedicated to the memory of my friend and fellow wildflower and botany enthusiast Jim Fowler who departed this earth June 25, 2021.
He was a lovely human being and leaves behind a son Dylan, and a much loved husband Mr. Walter Ezell. Here is a link to his obituary.
James Alexander Fowler Dedication
Back last Summer I was gathering research material on hybrid trilliums. I ran upon Jim Fowler's blog and photography of hybrid trilliums. About the time I did I found some nice comments by him on my photos in May 2021. I also found an interesting article about a hybrid swarm located in "a filthy drainage ditch behind a strip mall in Brevard. " I reached out to thank Jim for the nice compliment. I also share the info with him on the article and the location. I figured he probably already knew of it, but I wanted to be certain. He did not know about it! I was surprised, but told him if I did manage to locate it I would share it with him. I asked him if he minded telling me where he had run onto a hybrid swarm in Pisgah Forest area? He was happy to oblige and gave me directions. He was apologetic about the vagueness of the directions, but I thought they were good!
In that exchange he asked me if I would unblock him so he could read and comment on my blog? I told him I did not have him blocked. I don't have anyway to block an individual from reading or commenting on it. Plus I loved Jim and would not do that to him. I had no reason to be upset. I made sure to let him know. I am very grateful for clearing that up. Little did I know that a month later he would have passed away. At least my friend left here knowing I cared, and all was good between us. I am dedicating this edition of Hybrid Trilliums to him as a way of honoring his memory. We shared a geeky interest in this topic.
Sad to see him go too soon, but at least he passed away doing something he enjoyed.
Max Patch Hybrids
Saturday April 23, 2022
I had signed up to do Waterfall Therapy in April sponsored by Waterfall Keepers of North Carolina. I am a member and had been gently admonished by none other than Kevin Adams himself to sign up. I heeded his advice. I knew I needed soothing for my troubled soul. I had been a strong proponent of the program.
I figured I'd best put my money where my mouth was. They do not announce where the therapy is going to be held, but I was tipped off this time by Kevin.
It was at my adopted waterfall... Little Fall Branch near Max Patch. I knew with the road construction happening on interstate 40 East I'd have to travel an additional eight miles to Fines Creek in order to turn around, get on I-40 west and be able to exit at Harmon Den to get there. I wanted to arrive plenty early so I'd have time to do my waterfall maintenance first. I arrived to find only the therapist, Mark Ellison at the parking area. I got out and introduced myself. I then set about picking up trash. There wasn't a lot, but he still got up and helped me.
Mark is awesome. I made a new friend that day. He is certified in Forest therapy or shinrin yoku. (forest bathing) I had heard of it, but was not well acquainted with the practice. It turned out to be a great day and very meaningful.
I learned a lot. Pine trees in particular give off polyphenols that make us feel better when we breathe them in. Here is a link to Mark's business in case you want to give it a try. Pinnacle Forest Therapy. Oh and I found out toward the end of our therapy session that Dr. Ellison is the kind of old fashioned man who believes that if breathing in the pine polyphenols will help you.... that DRINKING them will be even better for you! We had a pine needle tea dosing before we left. It looked pretty sketchy, but was actually quite good and really good for you. I couldn't help thinking of my own dear mother who would cook you up a cure for what ails you from the weeds in the yard.
During the lag time between the start of the therapy group and the finish up of my waterfall keeper duties... I spent a little time photographing a swarm of hybrid trilliums I spotted. It was new to me. It was pretty impressive. All of them hybrids of Trillium erectum or wakerobin trillium. I found red parents. I found white parents and their blended offspring. I also found the grandchildren hybrids meaning the hybrids were fertile and producing more of their own kind!
Above: pure white T. erectum parent plant
So my first waterfall therapy was a success. I am signed up for another round in October. I had the added bonus of finding hybrid trilliums into the bargain for this years write up.
Gobey Tennessee Hybrid Trilliums
Thursday April 21, 2022
Each Winter I begin daydreaming about the coming of Spring wildflowers.
One day as I pored over some old photos looking for inspiration for the coming year's hybrid trillium exploration something occurred to me: there might be more!
The thought popped in my mind that there were two locations I had visited before and found some great hybrids. Since I wasn't expecting them and the locations were totally new to me in every respect.... I could easily have missed something!
There might be more to discover! One of those locations was Gobey, Tennessee.
Thankfully it was in an area where I could access them without having to take the RZR. I had grown comfortable enough with the area to know I could safely go alone. I headed out to Morgan County for a day of wildflower hunting.
I was not disappointed. I was correct. I not only found them, but I found that the initial find was far larger than I'd realized! Today I found slopes covered with loads of beautiful wildflowers of many types. Scattered among them were clusters of hybrid trilliums. I found a great many Trillium flexatum which are hybrids between Trillium flexipes and Trillium erectum. They are such a reliable, easily hybridized flower they are even grown commercially.
I had a good many things planned for the day, but I had no idea what I was in for! I arrived around 9:30 a.m. It was one of those bluebird days. Blue skies. Cool breeze. Sunshine. All the new green leaves coming out on the trees. I was about a week early to find my pink and green striped trillium. It was still there, but was only in bud. All the other Spring wildflowers were blooming. I pulled over to park and looked to my right. I could see I had been correct. I was seeing hybrid trilliums on the hillside. I got out and took my camera and keys. I began taking photos and making notes on what I was finding. It was paradise! I was like a kid in a candy store. Every foot or so I'd encounter another grouping of trilliums.
I saw so many it was overwhelming. It took me hours to visit roughly 0.20 miles worth of a hillside.
Trillium flexatum cream.
Above are some of my favorites.
Gobey is a wildflower wonderland. I enjoyed seeing the Emory River's blue green waters. The pastoral scenery is pretty and peaceful. I admit since I had been out here quite a bit including a January exploring trip.. I was not quite as intrigued by exploring further as I might have been otherwise.
Here is a link to an album of the various types of wildflowers I saw at Gobey today. Gobey Wildflowers 2022
Above: one of many small waterfalls coming down to the old railroad grade. These flow down and into Tackett Creek.
Above: Southern Red Trillium... the petals are strongly recurved, deeply furrowed, and the sepals are flexed forward like a canoe. Trillium sulcatum The bloom is upright on the stem. It is a pedicellate variety.
Above: Once up on top of the mountain ridge we entered the fog forest!
Above: a nice patch of Great white trilliums Trillium grandiflora
Above: Yellow lady slipper.. one of the first of the day
Above: a look at Tackett Creek before leaving to go to Almost Kentucky
Above: Red Trillium erectum hybrid with cream colored Trillium sulcatum parent
Above: T sulcatum hybrid between red and white parents
above: Trillium sulcatum red parent
Above: Trillium sulcatum hybrid between red and white parents
Above: white trillium sulcatum parent
Above: Primroy Arch
Above: pink lady slippers on the mountain near Primroy Arch
Above: Primroy Creek
Above: A cluster of cream colored Trillium sulcatum .. the center one has four petals! A Quadrillium!
Above: yellow form of Trillium sulcatum
Above: a cluster of six yellow lady slippers! A new location for me!
Above: a large cluster of white Trillium sulcatum with a hybrid swarm of pink offspring next to it on the left!
Above: Catesby's trillium along Rich Mountain Road
Below: while out wildflower hunting I found some Prairie larkspur
Above: trillium erectum hybrid between red and white parents
above: clump of yellow lady slippers found while out hunting trilliums one day
Above: White Trillium erectum parent. I did not get any decent photos of the red parents. They were very dried up and pitiful looking.
I had no bad people encounters out at Gobey, but when I got ready to drive on out to do further exploring I had two incidents with people driving like they were drunk or insane. Nearly running me off the road both times. After the second one I decided I was ready to go elsewhere and hike. The day had gone entirely too well to have it ruined now by a fool causing a car wreck. I am not going to delve into the remainder of my trip today on this report because it did not involve anymore hybrid trilliums. Instead I'll create a report that includes the day in a more chronological fashion another time.
Gobey's population of hybrid trilliums and the wildflower bounty there exceeded expectations. I was thrilled at my results.
Tackett Creek and Primroy Hybrids
Sunday May 1, 2022
I found a patch of hybrid trilliums at Tackett Creek in the past. I also found an interesting patch of hybrids up at Primroy which is almost in Kentucky.
We took off and went four wheeling in the RZR to check those out again.
I ended up having such a dazzling day in some other areas of Tackett Creek I never did make it up to my hybrids on the back side of McCloud Mountain.
It was okay with me because what I did see more than made up for it. Today is the stuff that dreams are made of!
I found a pretty patch of T sulcatum down along the old railroad grade. Waterfalls cascade down off the slopes. There are deep green hollows interspersed with the waterfalls. On other slopes there are trilliums and other wildflowers as far as the eye can see. Wildflowers without number!
I am blessed because I am the only redneck female botanist who will go four wheeling to botanize that I know of! Consequently I see and document things most will never encounter. I ride and then get out and wander the mountainsides on foot. The RZR permits me to cover a lot of ground faster and further. The fact I am willing to get out and walk the mountainsides as a hiker means I don't miss much.
Above: a nice patch of Great white trilliums Trillium grandiflora
I was not finding any new hybrid trillium spots, but I did see some other things that amazed me. I was hoping to see some yellow lady slippers today, and I did. Boys howdy......
Below: pink lady slippers .. still very pale having just opened
Above: red eft.. I saw nine of these fellers today
Above: I saw dwarf ginseng today in its purple form for the first time! Lots of it. I did not even know it came in this color!
Below: spotted mandarin or Fairy Bells
Above: a slope of ferns, trilliums and wild geraniums
Below: a yellow lady slipper in an awkward spot
Above and below: some lovely cascades along a trail at Tackett Creek
Below: an example of why I'd hate like hell to have to hike to find these flowers. It isn't designed for foot travel on these trails. We saw in one spot where someone had snapped off the axle of their machine! It was still laying there.
Below is the usual white colored type
We stopped to eat lunch and continued up toward Primroy which is almost in Kentucky. I had spotted a nice cluster of hybrid trilliums there in the past. It was another one of those spots I thought I should investigate further to see if I'd missed anything. It turned out I did miss some stuff. Glad I went back to check. I would hate to have missed seeing what I found today.
We saw arches, beautiful streams, lots of weird hybrid trilliums, found a couple new locations for yellow lady slippers. It was awesome!
Finally growing tired we headed back to the truck. The spot where we parked was a roadside lot that the power company uses to access the electric lines. The area looked bad being littered with beer bottles and plastic wrappers and other sorts of trash. Being part of Waterfall Keepers has changed me for the better. While Kenny loaded the machine I donned my work gloves and grabbed a trash bag. Within five minutes or less the entire lot was picked up. No more trash. Doesn't mean it will stay that way, but at least for that bit of time... I tried to make a difference. All in all it was an outstanding day.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Hybrids
A couple different days I hiked some trails in the National Park near home. I revisited a small patch of hybrid trilliums I had seen before. I found them once more, but they were past peak bloom and beginning to dry up. I had seen Trillium flexipes here in the past, but only one by itself. Today I found a second flower!
Below are four different offspring within this hybrid swarm. Not one looks exactly like the others!
Above: Trillium flexipes I found in the Smokies. Two of them!
above: Grandson Gabriel Koogler age 5 showing me a vaseys trillium he found in this last patch which was very large!
Above: I finally got to see the red form of Trillium rugelii.
Above: I am not sure if this is a red form of Southern Nodding trillium or a hybrid between Vasey's trillium and the red form of Southern Nodding trillium.
Above: a hybrid between red and white Southern Nodding trillium's hybrid T rugelii
Above Hybrid of Vaseys and Southern Nodding trillium
Above: hybrid between Vaseys trillium and Southern nodding trillium white form-- location #2
Above: a hybrid between Vaseys and red t rugelii....
Above: Another possible hybrid. I am not sure if this is a cross between vaseys and southern nodding .
Above: location #1... a striped hybrid between vaseys and southern nodding trilliums
Above is a photo of Wash Hollow Falls. We took Gabe and hiked to Sam Branch Falls and Wash Hollow Falls because they are short, easy hikes to impressive waterfalls. He found them to be no challenge at all for his five year old legs.
Above: Adders tongue fern. Been a minute since I found one of these!
I learned something else while reading Jim Fowler's blog. He noticed the same thing I did about some Catesby's trilliums. I had found a type within the National Park that were different. They weren't quite right. They did not hang below the leaves as is typical. The petals had a different shape also. He and another lady scientist are of the mind it may be a subtype of Catesby's trillium. Made me feel good to know I wasn't the only person who thought they looked a little odd!
Pisgah National Forest-- Jim Fowler's Hybrid Complex
Adventure Village Camping --May 6-8th, 2022
Jim Fowler was an orchid expert and botany wizard. We did not realize until the last few months before he passed that we shared a common interest in hybrid trilliums. He was a funny guy. He had a great sense of humor. He was a devoted husband and father. He talked to me telling me about his life. His son Dylan whom he was very proud of. He told me the story of meeting Walter and finally getting married to his soul mate ,and being happy and accepted at last. I was glad he shared that with me. It backed up my own theory that all people just want to be loved and accepted. My favorite funny story was one Jim and Walter related about how silly Jim could be. Walter was still working. Jim had retired and was home through the day. Walter told him he had made tuna salad in the fridge for Jim to have lunch later. Walter came home to find Jim had made him a mint chocolate chip sandwich. He mistook Walter's dessert salad for tuna fish being a little on the absent minded professor side. Walter teased about it and Jim in his typical self deprecating manor said his tuna fish sandwich was "minty chocolatey good!"
The kind of squirrely fun that only comes from being an old married couple. ❤️
I read Jim's blog each week the month before he passed. I was a little concerned. He seemed tired. Not his usual energizer bunny self. I hoped it was just a factor of being like me... a little out of shape. I was correcting in feeling something was wrong. He was already experiencing some heart problems. He passed away on Mount Mitchell photographing orchids. What a way to go, but what a loss for this world.
I put the finding of the hybrid trilliums he shared with me on the top of my list for the 2022 season. We owed our grandson Gabriel a camping trip. He loves Adventure Village as much as we do so we headed to Brevard. I figured I could get to hunt up the hybrid trilliums, work on completing my Kevin Adam's 100 Waterfall Challenge, and settle a debt with Gabe. We had taken a family camping trip back during Spring Break to Fall Creek Falls. I needed a break from caring for little kids so I chose not to include him in that trip. It was a wise decision. It snowed like crazy and was the coldest it had been all Winter! We spent a good bit of time stuck in the camper. He had more fun than we did going to Dollywood with cousins that week.
We arrived at Adventure Village and headed out on Friday afternoon to find those hybrid trilliums right after lunch. We went to Hawg Wild Barbecue where Gabe loved the french fries. We then headed into the Pisgah National Forest where I used the directions Jim gave me. They were spot on. I found the trilliums within minutes. I was very excited! I knew that Gabe wasn't going to be thrilled about trilliums and would soon get bored so Kenny took him down the gravel road to a spot where they could get out and play in the creek.
I got out and began taking photos and notes on the locations and types. I found this population of trilliums extremely pretty and extremely frustrating! They were the weirdest combination of hybrids I'd ever run across. They are a combining of Vasey's trillium (Trillium vaseyi) and Southern Nodding Trillium (Trillium rugelii)
Typically Vasey's trillium is deep red/maroon with strongly overlapping petals. The leaves are huge and the bloom hangs down below the leaves. They are such a dark red they can almost look black in the forest. They are easily missed.
Below is a photo of a Vasey's trillium in an area where there are no hybrids. It is pure.
Southern Nodding trillium ( Trillium rugelii) is a creamy white bloom with a red ovary. It also hangs down below the large leaves and would be easy to miss as it is often hidden. The petals are strongly recurved and narrower than those of Vasey's trillium. It so happens there is a RED form of this trillium to make things more complicated. I have never seen it personally where I knew for certain that was what I was witnessing.
Below is an example of T rugelli in an area where it is pure and no hybrids around.
The hybrid complex in Pisgah National Forest turned out to be confounding.
With Kenny and Gabriel's help I found it to be larger than Jim knew or had seen. It was just a happy accident. I had prayed and asked the Lord to please help me be successful in finding them and enjoying the work of His hands.
With Kenny and Gabriel's help I found it to be larger than Jim knew or had seen. It was just a happy accident. I had prayed and asked the Lord to please help me be successful in finding them and enjoying the work of His hands.
He is great every single day. Thank you Lord!
I found three additional locations to the one Jim told me about.
I am sure they are hybrids, but it is tough to tell exactly what is going on.
They are a crossing of T. vaseyii and T. rugelii. Jim says in his notes that he believed this, but he had no luck locating the T rugelii parent. I did not know that at the time, but I had the good fortune to FIND the darn thing! He was correct! That much I am sure of.
Below: a hybrid in location #2 of southern nodding trillium's two colors.
It is easy enough to see how confusing this whole thing got. I finally gave up on trying to categorize each one and just enjoyed their color variations and how many there were! I found four locations total. Three in addition to what Jim had told me about.
I saw many other beautiful flowers including Showy Orchis shown below
Below: I also saw lots of ferns and a few pink lady slipper orchids
Above: jack in the pulpit at the hybrid trillium final location.
Other things I saw... Painted trillium up along the Blue Ridge Parkway seen below
Mutated Trilliums From This Season
While there I spotted the only mutated trilliums I'd encounter this season.
Above: a close up of the first mutated Trillium erectum or Purple Wakerobin trillium. It has four petals and part of a fifth one. It has a phytoplasma infection that is noted in the leaves mottling as well as in the changing of the blooming parts to leafy parts.. you can see it along the edges of two petals one on either side.
The one shown below closer up has the tell tale markings on the sepals... the red striping indicates it is infected.
Above: Perfect pair of Catesby's trilliums in their typical form. T. catesbei should be white to pink and have tightly recurving petals with curly edges. The blooms are held on stalks (pedicellate) and they typically dangle down below the leaves. They can be hard to photograph because of this.
Above: Gabe at Lemon Falls. I did Waterfall Keepers duties here though I am not officially its keeper anymore. It gets few visitors so it doesn't get a lot of litter, but there is sometimes roadside trash and stuff does wash downstream from the homes above it.
Cateby's Trillium Questions??
We went to Lemon Falls one day and I found a nice pair of Catesby's trilliums in bloom where we climbed down over the bank.
I found in Jim's blog notes where he spotted some Catesby's trilliums that didn't look quite right to him. The petals were wider, their edges not curly, the petals were not tightly recurved, nor did they hang down below the leaves as usual.
He took notes, took photos and consulted a lady scientist who is actually studying them. She agreed with him they are not quite like they should be. She also agreed with him that they may be a new subspecies of Catesby's trillium. This was great validation to me. I found the same thing in a couple different locations in Blount County, Tennessee near my home. I went back and found my notes and photos.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this.
Above: A non typical form of Catesby's trillium I found along Beard Cane Trail in the Smoky Mountains. My notes say
I had thought this was a different kind of trillium, but it is still Catesby's trillium.It has wider petals and they take a little longer to curve back. They do not get as wavy along the edges as the thinner petaled Catesby's.
Variation of Catesby's Trillium.
The petals are wider, not recurved, and not undulating or wavy along the margins.
The tepals point forward on these also instead of curving back.
Yet as these age they eventually do all those things and they age pink like normal Catesby's trilliums. So I'd say they are a variation on the same species. The leaves on these kick back as shown on here. When the petals finally do recurve they do so very strongly and the margins of the petals never are quite as wavy as the thinner petaled ones.
Above: One final photo of the non typical Catesby's Trillium. This one found at Tallassee, Tennessee in a favorite wildflower spot. This one is pink tinted.
I did not make notes on this one.
Conclusion and Future Plans
All in all it was a fun and productive wildflower season. I visited all but three of my hybrid trillium locations.
Lord willing, in 2023 I will devote my study of hybrid trilliums to Holston Mountain with Larry Jarrett and Betsy Lee. I want to hit up Hyatt Ridge with Betsy. I also found a good location that is a Jim Fowler spot off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Always something to look forward to.
Hybrid trilliums while lovely don't make for good videos so I will include a video here just for fun.. of a waterfall series in No Business Holler up at Tackett Creek.
Dear Readers--- If you know of any interesting hybrid trillium locations to share I wish you'd pass them along to me if they don't happen to be huge secrets. I do not give out locations except in a very general way. Great Smoky Mountains or Blount County, TN and the like. I wish you'd email me or hit me up on Facebook or in the comments section of this blog entry. Thanks in advance. I'll give credit to the contributor if you are good with that.
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Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you!
Dana 🐝