Variegated (Teratologic) Trilliums

© Dave Spier

Have you ever found a Variegated (a.k.a. Teratologic) Trillium? I've encountered this variety of Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflora) in a number of locations including the Towns of Manchester and Junius in the northern Finger Lakes region of New York State. The green stripe down the center of each petal is due to a harmless virus in the plant. (As I recall, that was the explanation from a botany professor at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua.) However, I found another reference on In Defense of Plants listing the cause as a mycoplasma bacteria that weakens and eventually kills the host trillium.

My friend Ed Snyder from Williamson, NY, found one near Zurich Bog in the Town of Arcadia. He commented that there were few other trilliums this year where many had grown before. In contrast, down the road from our house, the woods is carpeted with white trilliums. I don't know whether this species goes through cycles, but they are a favorite deer food, so I suspect that might be the problem this year. Any other opinions out there?

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Trout Lilies

Trout Lilies

© Dave Spier

Trout Lilies (Erythronium americanum) are early-blooming woodland wildflowers. They're rather small, but showy, with a single, nodding, yellow flower on a stalk between two lance-shaped basal leaves. The plant's name refers to the brown mottling on the green leaves. Apparently it reminded someone of the spots on a trout. The alternate name is Fawn Lily for a similar reason. Another common name is botanically misleading and I'd prefer it evaporate from the vernacular.

What looks like six petals (typical of lilies) are technically three yellow petals plus three tepals* that are tan on the back. (*Tepals are a segment of the outer whorl in a flower that has no differentiation between petals and sepals.) Trout Lilies grow in communal patches but you might have to search for a blossom. It takes three to six years for plants to mature and then only a small percentage produce a blossom in any given spring.

The underground part of the plant is called a corm, but unlike a tulip "bulb," it is small and narrow. In an emergency, the corms can be boiled and eaten as survival food, but it takes a lot of them and destroys the plants in the process. It's too late now, but the young leaves also can be boiled and eaten. A word of caution, though - some people react to this plant by throwing up, so you might want to rethink eating them except in a dire emergency.

Trout Lilies reproduce by dividing the corms and, secondly, by producing seeds with oily bumps that ants love. The seeds are then unintentionally dispersed by the ants, or you might say that it's biologically intentional.

There is a crude range map on the USDA website. It's essentially the eastern half of Canada and the United States north of Florida.

Lilies are monocotyledons (meaning one seed leaf) and all monocots have parallel-veined leaves. Grasses, orchids and palms are other examples.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Red Trilliums

© Dave Spier

 

Red Trilliums (Trillium erectum) are attractive woodland wildflowers native to Upstate New York, but admire them from a distance.  They have many nicknames, but “stinking Benjamin” and “wet-dog trillium” will clue you to their ill scent.  Both the liver-red color and bad smell are nature’s design to attract carrion flies to aid in pollination.

Trilliums grow with three broad, diamond-shaped leaves and three green, leaf-like sepals alternating with three colored petals.  This plant belongs to the lily family, hence the name tri-lillium, or three-part lily.  Other common names for this species include Purple Trillium, Wake-robin, Rule-of-three, and in Maine, Wild-piney.

Peterson’s Edible Wild Plants book indicates that young leaves can be added to salads or boiled and eaten like spinach, but it’s too late for this year.  After the flowers open, the leaves turn bitter.  Another source I consulted warns that “the leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals and crystal raphide, and should not be consumed by humans.”  Either way, this species is seldom abundant enough to be used as a food source, and removing the leaves will stress or possibly kill the plant.  It takes woodland wildflowers an average of seven years to reach maturity and begin flowering due to the lack of sunlight in the shade of tall trees.  New York State ranks the Red Trillium as “Exploitably Vulnerable.” 

Berries and roots are mildly poisonous, although you might see birds and wild mammals eating the red fruits later in the year (but remember, they also eat Poison Ivy berries).

A generalized range map can be found on the USDA website.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.