Trillium flexipes

Native

Wet to moderate moisture. Woods.

April to May

Creamy white

8″ to 16″

This is a 8″ to 16″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on 1 to several scapes from a single, short, stout rhizome.

There is no central stem. What appears to be the central stem is actually a slender, hairless scape.

There are no above-ground leaves. There is a whorl of 3 leaf-like bracts at the top of the scape. The bracts are broad, diamond-shaped or egg-shaped to almost circular, 2¾″ to 10″ long, and 2¾″ to 10″ wide, and stalkless or nearly stalkless. They taper gradually to a narrow point at the base, and taper gradually to a sharp point at the tip with concave sides along the tip. They are bright green and do not have red tones.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower hanging on a stalk above or below the bracts. The flower stalk is 1½″ to 4¾″ long, straight, and stiff. It declines to about 90° or more.

The flowers are about 1½″ wide. There are 3 sepals, 3 petals, and 6 stamens. The sepals are green, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, and as long or slightly shorter than the petals. The petals are creamy white, thin, and oblong lance-shaped. They are usually flat or bent backward in the upper half. The veins on the upper side of the petals are conspicuous, appearing engraved. The filaments are white and less than ½ the length of the anthers. The anthers are creamy white or yellow, 3 ⁄16″ to ¾″ long. There is no floral scent.

The fruit is a rosy-red to purplish, fleshy, juicy berry. It is ½″ to 1⅛″ in diameter, egg-shaped, pyramidal at the top, strongly angled, and contains many seeds.

Nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum) petals are strongly bent backward from just above the base, with more than ½ of their length extending behind plane of the sepal bases. They are not conspicuously veined. The anthers are pale lavender-pink or lavender-gray, 1 ⁄16″ to ¼″ long. The filaments are about as long as the anthers.

Southeast quarter of the state; also Stearns County and Clay County.