LILY FAMILY LILIACEAE 
PURPLE TRILLIUM. WAKE ROBIN 
Trillium recurvatum Beck 
Trilliums are easily recognized by the fact that the 
parts of the plant are grouped in threes. 
This is our commonest Trillium, occurring by the thousands 
in some woodlots, and ranging from Ohio 
to Minnesota, south to Mississippi and 
Arkansas. It is also the least conspicuous 
member of the genus. 
The stem is 6-18 inches high. The leaves 
are petioled and mottled characteristically 
light and dark green. 
The flower is sessile at the tip of the 
stem. Its 3 green sepals are strongly re- 
flexed, whereas the red- 
purple petals are nearly 
erect or spreading. The 
anthers of the stamens 
are much longer than the 
filaments. The fruit is 
6-winged at the top. 
\ The Large-flowered Trillium, Trillium 
grandifiorum (Michx.) Salisb., is one of the 
most beautiful in the genus, and is theoreti- 
cally protected by law in Illinois. However, 
ravaging pickers and commercial enter- 
prises in land have exterminated it from 
many places. It occurs in woods from 
/¢ Quebec to Minnesota and south to North 
i) Carolina and Missouri, and blooms in May 
and June. The stem is usually stout and 
8-18 inches high. The leaves are broadly ovate, 2-6 inches long, 
rather long pointed and sessile or nearly so. The lanceolate sepals 
are I-2 inches long and the white or pinkish, strongly veined petals 
are still longer. The anthers are about one-half inch long and the 
filaments are shorter. The berry is black, slightly 6-lobed and nearly 
I inch in diameter. 
The Sessile-leaved Trillium, Trillium sessile L., is often called 
Sessile-flowered Wake Robin because in this plant both the leaves 
and flowers are sessile. The greenish purple petals are lanceolate, 
erect and spreading, sepals are spreading, and the globose fruit is 
6-angled and slightly winged. This is a rare species of moist woods 
especially in the north and the Illinois valley. 
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