Toadshade

(Trillium sessile)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Toadshade (Trillium sessile L.)

Identification: Flowers deep red or purple with the petals erect and closed or slightly open and the sepals erect to slightly spreading. Flowers sessile to the whorl of three leaves and lacking a flowering stalk. Leaves large and round with the apex only slightly pointed. Plant 5 to 12 inches in height.

Distribution: Wisconsin and New York in the east, southward to North Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma in the west.

Habitat: Toadshade is found in a variety of woods, commonly along rivers and streams.

Flowering period: April to June.

Similar Species: Another species with erect petals and sessile flowers is the Prairie Trillium. The sepals of the Prairie Trillium droop downward. Also the leaves are much more elongate and the bases of the leaves are constricted.

Comments: A variety of Toadshade exists with yellow-green flowers.

Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved.