White trout lily 



# White Trout Lily ( Ery thronium aibidum) 

 Lily Family (Liliaceae) 



This plant forms circular colonies in the woods. Plants with 

 single leaves are nonflowering, and those with two leaves bear 

 flowers. Most specimens in a given colony are not old enough 

 to flower. The flower color is usually white, but in our area the 

 flowers often have a slight bluish tinge. The leaves are more or 

 less spotted (hence the name trout lily). Another name, dog- 

 tooth violet, is inappropriate, since the plant, a member of the 

 lily family, is not a violet. Locally, it is most common on the 

 Illinois side of Lake Michigan. The white trout lily quite con- 

 sistently associates with the spring beauty, discussed above. 



Yellow trout lily 



14 



# Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) 

 Lily Family (Liliaceae) 



This trout lily differs from the foregoing plant not only in the 

 yellow color of the flowers, but also in the greater amount of 

 spotting on the foliage. Its local center of distribution is north- 

 western Indiana and southwestern Michigan, especially War- 

 ren Woods, where it quite completely replaces the white trout 

 lily. Typical associates include sugar maple, beech, Dutch- 

 man's breeches, squirrel corn, large-flowered trillium, and 

 wild geranium. 



Hepatica 



# Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) 

 Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) 



Most of our hepatics, especially on the Illinois side of the lake, 

 are this species, which grows in neutral or slightly alkaline 

 soil. Another species (Hepatica americana) occurs more com- 

 monly in the acidic soils of the Indiana dunes, and is told from 

 acutiloba by the rounded lobes of the leaves; in acutiloba these 

 are pointed (some botanists regard both as varieties of the 

 European species). The plants are early blooming (in fact 

 often the earliest wildflower in the woods), and are quite 

 attractive, especially since the color is so variable — from 

 white through pink and rose to dark lavender or violet. The 

 leaves of the previous year are semi-evergreen and often re- 

 main the following spring, with the newly developing fuzzy 

 leaves of the current year appearing at the same time. 



# Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) 

 Mustard Family (Cruciferae) 



This is our only spring woodland wildflower combining the 

 four petals of the mustard family with deeply dissected, or 

 compound, leaves with narrow leaflets. This is an especially 

 common plant in the east woods of the Morton Arboretum. 

 Flower color ranges from pure white to a light pink or purple. 

 Another related plant sometimes grows with it, having iden- 

 tical flowers but undivided leaves; this is the purple spring 

 cress ((Cardamine dougiassii) Toothwort associates typically 

 with red trillium, spring beauty, white trout lily, wild gera- 

 nium, hepatica, woodland phlox, and May apple. 



Toothwort 



