Trillium nivale

Native

Minnesota special concern species

Moist to moderate moisture. Woods. Filtered sunlight. Limey soils.

Late March to April

White

3″ to 6″

This is a low, erect perennial that rises from a short, stout, up to ⅜″ thick rhizome. It often forms colonies where conditions are favorable. Individual plants may live 8 years or more.

A single leafless stalk (scape) rises from the ground 1⅛″ to 2″. By the time the flower is fully open the scape is 1¼″ to 3⅛″ tall. It is light green or reddish-brown, slender, and hairless.

There are no true leaves. At the top of the scape is a single flower above a whorl of 3 bracts.

The bracts are attached to the scape by short but distinct leaf stalks. They are 1⅛″ to 2″ long, egg-shaped to oval, rounded at the base, and usually rounded, not pointed, at the tip. They are bluish-green or dark green, hairless, and untoothed. They have 3 prominent, parallel veins.

The inflorescence is a single flower on a ½″ to 1⅛″ long, erect or nearly erect, flower stalk at the end of the scape.

The flowers are 1″ to 2″ wide. They consist of 3 white petals and 3 green sepals, and 6 yellow stamens, and a 3-lobed ovary and style. The petals are longer than the sepals. The sepals are ⅜″ to 1¼″ long, narrow, lance-shaped, and bent backward. The petals are ⅝″ to 1⅜″ long, white and oval to egg-shaped, with slightly wavy margins. The ovary is not winged.

The fruit is a ¼″ to ½″, round to egg-shaped, greenish-white, berry.

This plant is the smallest Trillium and the first to bloom.

Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is a much larger plant, 8″ to 16″ tall at maturity. The leaves are wider and are pointed at the tip.

Nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum var. macranthum) is a much larger plant, 8″ to 16″ tall at maturity. The leaves are wider and are pointed at the tip. The petals are lance-shaped and curve backward at the tip.

Drooping trillium (Trillium flexipes) is a much larger plant, 8″ to 16″ tall at maturity. The leaves are wider and are pointed at the tip. The petals are lance-shaped and curve backward at the tip.

This is the first wildflower to bloom in the spring in Minnesota forests.