5 leafed A. triphyllum

[Jim McClements, Dover, DE z6]

In a message dated 7/24/00 7:10:02 AM, tony at PLANTDEL.COM writes:

<< Ray:

You can add Tennessee to the list for A. triphyllum ssp. quinatum.
On our
expedition this spring, we stumbled on a patch of thousands...all five leaf
type in Parksville Beach, TN.  Having never seen this in the wild before,
it was truly amazing.

Tony Avent >>

Ray, Tony et al

A year or so ago we had a discussion on Trillium-L (not here) about whether
an A. triphyllum with 5 leaflets was necessarily the same as A. t. ssp.
quinatum. This occurred as the result of David Mellard, near Atlanta, talking
about his local species of "Jacks", which had five leaflets, two of which
started out like "thumbs" from the outer of the three leaflets.

I dug the following posting of mine out of the Trillium-L archives, and would
suggest that anyone interested have a look there under "quinatum"
(http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/trillium-l.html):

<<<I'm beginning to get the feeling that we may be talking about two different
things:

1. A. triphyllum that has split its two outside leaflets, such as Bill
Plummer describes, and

2. A five-leaflet form with the leaflets coming from the stem more or less
radially (every 72 degrees, if my arithmetic is right!) not all from one
semicircular origin.

Huttleston's paper (1984) says the following about ssp quinatum:

"very restricted range in the deep south, found only in Georgia, northern
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. It grows in moist shaded
conditions.It tends to be smaller than the other ssp. and its leaves are
usually glaucous beneath and penta-foliolate, though they are sometimes
trifoliolate and lack glaucescence. "

He also says that the appendix is "very thin and curved toward the opening of
the spathe".

To me these criteria mean that five leaflets doesn't make it a ssp. quinatum.
Our normal A. triphyllum's appendix is NOT thin and curved.

As far as I know, Huttleston's classification is the one generally accepted,
although I know of those who disagree, particularly with his treatment of
ssp. stewardsonii, which may deserve designation as a separate species. If it
were Chinese, it certainly would be!>>>

Therefore, I'd be hesitant in calling anything "quinatum" unless it has 5
radiating leaflets (like a sinarisaema) and has a thin, curved appendix.

Comments?

Jim