Louisiana Wakerobin Trillium ludovicianum
Other Common Name(s):
- Description
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Louisiana wakerobin is an herbaceous perennial wildflower in the trillium family (Melanthiaceae). It is native to Louisiana, Mississippi and eastern Texas, where they are found growing in low flatwoods, floodplains along streams, steep ravine slopes that lead to a floodplain and mixed pine-beech woods. The epithet is the Latinized name for Louisiana.
Louisiana wakerobins are attractively planted in groups under trees in humus-rich moist well-drained soils in part to full shade. They suffer in too much sun.
The bronzy green bracts (“leaves”) are held well above the ground and attractively mottled in a lighter green sometimes with an even lighter line dividing the leaf in two. The dark purplish brown petals are held upright in the center of the whorl of bracts. They smell a little like carrion and attract beetles, which are the pollinators. The fleshy fruit is a purplish, six-angled, ovoid capsule.
Plant in drifts at the edge of the woods or near a stream where they will slowly spread by underground rhizomes.
Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious problems. Slugs and snails are occasional pests and leaf spot, rust and smut are occasional disease problems. It does not transplant well.
- See this plant in the following landscape:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
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- Tags:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
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Attributes:
- Genus:
- Trillium
- Species:
- ludovicianum
- Family:
- Melanthiaceae
- Life Cycle:
- Perennial
- Country Or Region Of Origin:
- SE USA
- Distribution:
- AL, LA, MS
- Dimensions:
- Height: 1 ft. 0 in. - 1 ft. 3 in.
- Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 2 ft. 0 in.
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Whole Plant Traits:
- Plant Type:
- Herbaceous Perennial
- Wildflower
- Habit/Form:
- Erect
- Spreading
- Growth Rate:
- Medium
- Maintenance:
- Medium
- Texture:
- Medium
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Cultural Conditions:
- Light:
- Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day)
- Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight)
- Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
- Soil Texture:
- High Organic Matter
- Soil Drainage:
- Good Drainage
- Moist
- Available Space To Plant:
- 12 inches-3 feet
- NC Region:
- Mountains
- Piedmont
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone:
- 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b
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Fruit:
- Fruit Color:
- Red/Burgundy
- Display/Harvest Time:
- Summer
- Fruit Type:
- Berry
- Capsule
- Fruit Length:
- < 1 inch
- Fruit Width:
- < 1 inch
- Fruit Description:
- This plant's fruit is a fleshy, dark purple colored, 6 angled ovoid capsule less than an inch long. It has little or no odor. The seeds are dispersed by ants in the summer.
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Flowers:
- Flower Color:
- Green
- Purple/Lavender
- Red/Burgundy
- Flower Inflorescence:
- Solitary
- Flower Value To Gardener:
- Showy
- Flower Bloom Time:
- Spring
- Flower Shape:
- Cup
- Star
- Flower Petals:
- 2-3 rays/petals
- Flower Size:
- 1-3 inches
- Flower Description:
- The flower of this plant has no stem (sessile). It sits at the point where the leaves emerge from the scape (the correct botanical name for what looks like a stem connecting the leaves to the root). There is a whorl of three green sepals, then another whorl of the three purplish brown petals which are one and a quarter to two inches long and tend to curve over the center of the flower. It can smell like carrion. Blooms March to April
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Leaves:
- Leaf Color:
- Brown/Copper
- Green
- Variegated
- Leaf Value To Gardener:
- Showy
- Leaf Type:
- Simple
- Leaf Arrangement:
- Whorled
- Leaf Shape:
- Lanceolate
- Ovate
- Leaf Margin:
- Entire
- Undulate
- Hairs Present:
- No
- Leaf Length:
- 3-6 inches
- Leaf Width:
- 1-3 inches
- Leaf Description:
- The leaves that are actually bracts, are sessile (stemless) and strongly mottled in dark and bronzy green, often with a central light strip and may fade with age. They are lanceolate-ovate, between two and four inches long and one to two inches wide, not glossy with margins entire to wavy. Appear in threes in a whorled pattern.
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Stem:
- Stem Color:
- Green
- Red/Burgundy
- Stem Is Aromatic:
- No
- Stem Cross Section:
- Round
- Stem Surface:
- Smooth (glabrous)
- Stem Description:
- In the case of this plant the stem is really a scape. The round scape rises between five and a half to ten inches from the soil. It is green to reddish.
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Landscape:
- Landscape Location:
- Naturalized Area
- Riparian
- Slope/Bank
- Woodland
- Landscape Theme:
- Shade Garden
- Design Feature:
- Mass Planting
- Small groups
- Attracts:
- Pollinators
