Spring 2003

Trilliums:
Great Whites and Bloody Noses

The eight species of trillium in Chicago Wilderness go by many names, among them true love, dish cloth, wake-robin, bath flower, trinity-lily, stinking Benjamin, and daffy-down-dilly. Trillium means "three lily" and describes the plants well with their three broad, parallel-veined leaves in a whorl, three green sepals (protective flower coverings), three flower petals, and three-parted ovary.

The roots of all trilliums have astringent and antiseptic properties that led many American Indians to use them for treating sores and wounds. Menomonee, Potawatomi, and Chippewa all had uses for trillium including pounding rheumatism joint with sewing needles to "inject" trillium tea into the area. These Indian groups considered red-flowered forms male and the best for medicine, while they viewed white-flowered forms as female and used them for childbirth and menstrual problems.

Early pioneers called them birthroot, papoose root, or squawroot after this Indian practice. Medicinal use continued after European settlement — from 1916 to 1947, trilliums were listed as official medicine in the National Formulary.

The most common trillium in Chicago Wilderness is Trillium recurvatum, called prairie trillium, red trillium, brown Bess, wake-robin, whippoorwill flower, toadshade, and bloody noses. It occurs in every county in Chicago Wilderness. Its three maroon petals narrow at the base, and three green sepals bend backward (or recurve) below the flower. Beautifully mottled with light and dark green blotches, its three leaves cradle the flower at the top of a 6- to 18-inch stem.

Photo by Rob Curtis, The Early Birder

Prairie trilliums were very common in the oak savannas of the past and can be found in most woodlands today. Since they are able to survive disturbance, they also grow in pastures and other degraded habitats. Preferring rich clayey floodplain soils atop limestone bedrock, they sprawl across most of Illinois and Indiana, continuing down the Mississippi River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico.

Prairie trilliums bloom from mid April to mid June and are relatively easy to grow from seed in a woodland garden. The mottled foliage makes a spectacular groundcover in light shade.

The most spectacular trillium in Chicago Wilderness is Trillium grandiflorum, called large-flowering trillium, great white trillium, grand-flowering trillium, white wake-robin, and birthwort. A pure white flower standing above three broad green leaves announces this trillium's presence in moderately moist springtime woodlands such as Messenger Woods in Will County and Ryerson Woods in Lake County. It blooms from early April to early June and often carpets large areas.

Yet the large-flowering trillium's flower can reveal more than the arrival of spring. A faded pink bloom betrays an old white trillium's age. Green markings on a trillium's petals signify a fungal infection that usually results in the death of the plant. And double-flowered trilliums tend to be sterile. Both the red trillium and the large-flowering trillium occasionally produce "quadrilliums" with four leaves, four sepals, and four petals. Finding one is like finding a four-leaf clover.

The large-flowering trillium inhabits upland woods of maple, red oak, basswood, and even beech. It also grows in swampy woods of dunes areas and occasionally on floodplains. Though Chicago Wilderness sits on the western edge of the large-flowering trillium's range, biologists have recorded the plant in six of the ten counties of Chicago Wilderness.

Trilliums take up to seven years or more to produce a flowering plant from seed, so they are rarely grown in the nursery trade. Most trilliums sold are unethically dug from the wild. These usually get smaller every year and eventually die after being transplanted.

A generation ago large-flowering trilliums made showy displays in our May woods, but illegal picking and digging has led to their marked decline. In recent years, overpopulation of white-tailed deer has been an even greater factor in this drop. Although the deer feed on both red and white trilliums, they prefer the larger white variety. In some cases, the loss of well-loved trillium patches has alerted the public to the gradual degradation of the woods, most components of which were not so obvious. And the slow return of the trilliums is one of the most obvious signs of a successful deer-control program.

Trilliums surely are one of our most-beloved spring wildflowers. Those lucky enough to come upon a colony of them in glorious full bloom are truly blessed. Enjoy them, take their picture, and remember them.

— Patricia K. Armstrong