This Appalachian-centered taxon has been treated in iverse ways, often as a variety of the east-central glaberrima or the more southeastern carolina. Cr combined all three taxa under P. glaberrima ; W has recognizd P. carolina but combined triflora completely with glaberrima. However, initial DNA-sequencing has indicated that triflora is in a distinct, cluster (including buckleyi, ovata / latifolia & pulchra) wiith a near-basal position in the whole glaberrima-pilosa complex (Ferguson & Jansen 2002, Garner et al. 2022). Moreover, plants identified as triflora are partly (or perhaps mostly) tetraploid (2n = 28), whereas those of typical glaberrima are all diploid, as in most other related species (2n = 14; Zale & Jourdan 2015). P. triflora is generally recognizable in Ky. but often identified as glaberrima based on its "subcampanulate" calyx following Wherry (1955). Records of triflora from the Shawnee Hills of w. Ky. and s. Ind. are verified (see also D); other disjunct western colls. should be rechecked for transitions to glaberrima or carolina. Curiously, triflora is unknown in the Cumberland Mts. (at least in Ky.) and elsewhere in the higher central Appalachians (where ovata is centered). However, its reported range wraps to the south around these mountains from east to west, extending as far as w. Fla. (Gl; Wherry 1955). Habitat for triflora is sometimes noted as mostly "wet" (like most glaberrima), but in Ky. plants are generally on well-drained sites (like some carolina). Although glaberrima and carolina are relatively variable, triflora generally has fewer flowers per inflorescence (ca. 12-25 versus 15-125), and flower parts are larger on average (F; Wherry 1955). Its stems are relatively short (ca. 4-6 dm), with a tendency to decumbent rooting, only 5-12 leaf-bearing nodes, and moderately narrow leaves (mostly 5-10 mm wide). The clearest differences from glaberrima in triflora may be its less elongated leaves (with L/W averaging ca. 6 versus 12), longer calyx (8-12 mm versus 6-9 mm) with deeper lobes (4-6 mm versus 1.5-4 mm), and smaller ultimate cymules (usually with 3 versus 5-7 flowers).