"If I ever have a trillium that might be considered 'weedy' it would have to be Trillium oostingii. It sets copious seed and seedlings reach flowering size in the garden within about 5 years. I have far more spontaneous seedlings of T. oostingii than any other species. I still find it bizarre that the dark-flowered morphs were never mentioned in the 2008 publication first describing this species, albeit they account for a very small percentage of the total population. In addition to the color variation, the petal shapes are also distinct; I'd love to know what is going on here? Fron the limited sequencing studies to date, they seem to be indistinguishable from the plants with typical flowers."
"Trillium oostingii is a wonderful species, described within the last 10 years or so. Bizarrely, the paper never addressed the dark-flowered forms - so it remains a mystery what is going on here. Some of the latter can be almost black, while others have intermediate colors and remarkable dark veins in the petals. The dark ones, uniquely, also have petals that twist and contort in funky ways that the green ones seem to ignore."
"Variation in Trillium oostingii. This seems to be the trillium closest to becoming a weed here - sets copious amounts of seed every year, which germinates freely and quickly, and reaches flowering size in about 5 years!"
Per John Lonsdale, owner of Edgewood Gardens, PA. [HYPERLINK@edgewoo...Read More