Trilliums I Found

Last time, I wrote about the single regretful glance over my shoulder as my wife and I embarked on a great midlife adventure: I never saw Snow Trillium (Trillium naval) in Ohio, or Catesby's Trillium (T. catesbaei) in North Carolina. On the other hand, I have found Prairie Trillium (T. recurvatum) in Indiana, and Yellow Trillium (T. luteum), Painted Trillium (T. undulatum) and Purple or Red Trillium (T. erectum) in North Carolina.

The Prairie Trillium was a surprise. The other three required a little more work.

Until I purchased a Northern Indiana wildflower book (those are my souvenirs, wildflower books from the different places we've been), I had no idea I was seeing something new. Unless you pay attention to the details, Prairie Trillium can easily be mistaken for Sessile Trillium. Both have mottled leaves, both have maroon to purple flowers, and both grow in the woods.

A closer look reveals obvious differences. The leaves of Prairie Trillium have petioles (or stalks), while those of Sessile Trillium do not. Also, the sepals of Prairie Trillium droop, hanging down from the flower. The sepals of Sessile Trillium are erect, the flowers kind of nestled within.

Two of the three species of Trillium I found in North Carolina turned up at the end of yet another hike somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Yellow Trillium turned up in the botanical gardens in Asheville, though I did later find it in the woods.

I was pimply with anticipation last spring, in North Carolina, looking forward to seeing many new wildflowers. But the one I wanted to see the most was Painted Trillium. I was not disappointed.

Considered by many as the most beautiful of all Trilliums, the small white flowers of Painted Trillium are splashed with wine, a three-sided Rorschach stain on the petals. This alone makes it easy to identify, and to fall prey to its spell.

The flowers are perched on an erect stalk, above the three broadly ovate leaves. The sepals peek out from behind the petals.

Its species name, undulatum, means "wavy", and refers to the margins of the petals.

Purple or Red Trillium, also known as Wakerobin, was very abundant in the woods, often growing among a carpet of sweet-smelling Carolina Spring Beauties. Ironically, Red Trillium is not sweet-smelling at all, instead malodorously foul. Like Skunk Cabbage, its foul odor attracts carrion flies, which act as pollinators.

Though it does have red flowers (which can vary from pale yellow to pink to purple), Red Trillium is easy to distinguish from Prairie and Sessile Trillium. It has a nodding flower at the end of a stalk where the others don't.

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