Trillium

Plant Characteristics
Habit		herbaceous
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Features:	✓	flowers

Scientific Names
Trilliaceae >	Trillium >

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Trillium is a genus of about 40-50 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants, native to temperate regions of North America and Asia. They used to be treated in the family Trilliaceae or Trillium family, a part of the Liliales or Lily order. The AGP II treats Trilliaceae as a synonym of the family Melanthiaceae. Common names include trillium, wakerobin, Tri Flower, and birthroot. The above ground parts of Trilliums are scapes with three large, leafy bracts with the true leaves reduced to underground papery coverings around the rhizomes.

Read about Trillium in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Trillium (Latin, triplum, triple: leaves and floral parts in threes). Liliaceae. Wake-robin. Birthroot. White Wood Lily. Ground Lily. Interesting and handsome perennial herbs, hardy and very useful for spring-flowering in the wild border or rockery or even in the garden border. Rhizome short, thick, ascending or horizontal; sts. simple, erect, sheathed at base: lvs. 3, whorled at the top of the st., broad, subsessile or long-petioled, 3-5-nerved: fls. 1, between the lvs., sessile or pedicellate, erect, cernuous or reflexed, violet, lurid, white or greenish; perianth persistent, segms. distinct, spreading, 3 exterior thin herbaceous, green or rarely colored, 3 inner petal-like usually larger, spreading sometimes recurved; stamens 6; ovary with a broad base, sessile, ovoid or subglobose, 3-celled: berry globose or ovoid, usually 3-ribbed, indehiscent. —About 30 species, N. Amer. and extra-Trop. Asia from the Himalayas to Japan. Trilliums are amongst the characteristic flowers of American woods. The best-known species is T. grandiflorum, which ranges from Canada to the mountains of North Carolina and extends westward beyond the Great Lakes. All trilliums delight in moist rich soil. They thrive in woods mold. The root is a deep-seated mostly perpendicular rhizome (Fig. 3844). It is customary to transplant trilliums from the woods when in bloom. This is because the plants can be found readily at that time and because the desire to grow them is strongest when the plants are in flower. It is better to transplant in midsummer, or later, however, when the growth is completed, although the plants are difficult to find after the tops have died. The bloom is made largely from the energy stored in the tuber the previous season. After flowering, the plant stores energy for the succeeding year. By midsummer this work is accomplished and the tops die: then the plants are at rest and they are in proper condition to be moved. However, good results are sometimes secured by moving them in spring. These remarks will apply to most early spring-blooming small herbs. Give trilliums a rich deep rather moist soil in partial shade. Plant deep. A colony will last for years. Trilliums force well. See Forcing. Plants may be propagated by seeds sown as soon as ripe. Blooming plants may be expected in two or three years. Trilliums are among the choicest of all early spring plants, and they should be more common in gardens. They can be made to thrive well in borders about city yards. They may also be colonized in grass where the lawn-mower is not used. Best results are usually attained, however, when they are planted alone in masses. T. Govenianum, Wall. A species of Temp. Himalaya, little known and described by Hooker as follows: "Lvs. shortly petioled, ovate or ovate-cordate, acute: sepals subequal, narrowly linear." — T. obovatum, Pursh. Founded on a Canadian plant, which has been referred to T. erectum. Maximowicz keeps it distinct, however, extending its range to Kamchatka and Japan. It is the T. erectum var. japonicum, Gray. According to Watson, the Japanese plant "is distinguished by a somewhat produced connective (between the anther-cells) and very short stigmas." Maximowicz says that the plant differs from T. erectum in the petals being broader and more obtuse and longer than the calyx, the fls. nodding from the first, and the lvs. broader than long, sessile, not attenuate at the base. — T. Smallii, Maxim. One of the T. erectum series (T. erectum var. japonicum flore-pleno, Gray), of Japan. Fls. smaller than those of T. obovatum (2 in. across), deep tawny red, the petals not exceeding the sepals, nearly orbicular or obovate. — T. Tschonoskii, Maxim. About 1 ft. tall: lvs. sessile, broad-ovate or orbicular, somewhat rhombic, acuminate: fls. dull purple, 1 in. or less across, the petals oblong-lanceolate. According to Hooker, this differs from T. erectum chiefly in the longer filaments. Himalaya to Japan. ^CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Picking Trillium for their flower can seriously injure the plant. The three leaves (more correctly leafy bracts) below the flower are the plant's only ability to produce food stores and a picked trillium can take many years to recover.