Plant of the Week

Spotted Trillium (Trillium maculatum)

By Larry Stritch

All trillium species belong to the Liliaceae (lily) family and are rhizomatous herbs with unbranched stems. Trillium plants produce no true leaves or stems above ground. The “stem” is actually just an extension of the horizontal rhizome and produces tiny, scalelike leaves (cataphylls). The aboveground plant is technically a flowering scape, and the leaf-like structures are actually bracts subtending the flower. Despite their morphological origins, the bracts have external and internal structure similar to that of a leaf, function in photosynthesis, and most authors refer to them as leaves.

Trilliums are divided into two major groups, the pedicellate and sessile trilliums. In the pedicillate trilliums, either the flower sits upon a pedicel that extends from the whorl of bracts, “erect” above the bracts, or “nodding” recurved under the bracts. In the sessile trilliums, there is no pedicel and the flower appears to arise directly from the bracts.

Spotted trillium falls within the sessile trillium group and typically flowers from early to mid-April to early May. Spotted trillium exhibits many color forms, and many have been named.

Spotted trillium flowers from early February to early April. Spotted trillium is found on the outer and inner coastal plains of the southeastern United States. They inhabit rich mesic forests on rich calcareous soils and alluvium.

For More Information

• PLANTS Profile - Trillium maculatum, Spotted Trillium
• Flora of North America: Trillium maculatum
• Case, F.W., R.B. Case. 1997. Trilliums. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

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