Alpine Rock-Cress vs Coast Trillium

Arabis alpina compared with Trillium ovatum

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alpine Rock-Cress	Coast Trillium
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Brassicales (Brassicales)	Liliales (Liliales)
Family	Brassicaceae	Melanthiaceae
Genus	Arabis	Trillium
Species	Arabis alpina	Trillium ovatum

Evolutionary Relationship

Alpine Rock-Cress and Coast Trillium share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Magnoliophyta. (Flowering Plants)

Conservation Status

Alpine Rock-Cress

LC — Least Concern

Coast Trillium

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alpine Rock-Cress	Coast Trillium
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alpine Rock-Cress

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (10 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Argentina).

Coast Trillium

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Found in United States.

Alpine Rock-Cress

The Alpine Rock-Cress (Arabis alpina) is a species in the genus Arabis. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions. Widely distributed across Europe (10 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Argentina).

Coast Trillium

Coast trillium (Trillium ovatum) is a spring-flowering perennial herb in the family Melanthiaceae, native to moist, shaded forests of western North America from British Columbia and Alberta south through the Pacific states to central California and east to Montana and Idaho. It grows in mixed conifer and deciduous forest understories, redwood forest, riparian woodland, and coastal range foothills, typically in deep, humus-rich, well-drained soils. Like all trilliums, it produces a whorl of three broad leaves, a single three-petalled flower that opens white and turns pink to deep rose with age, and takes many years to reach flowering maturity from seed. Seeds are dispersed by ants (myrmecochory) attracted to the oil-rich elaiosome attached to each seed. Coast trillium is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though it is a legally protected plant in some US states due to its slow reproductive rate making populations sensitive to disturbance. Illegal collection from the wild for horticulture remains a concern. It is one of the most beloved wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest and is widely cultivated in woodland gardens.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇺🇸 United States