LILIACEAE LILY FAMILY 
SNOW TRILLIUM. DWARF WHITE TRILLIUM 
Trillium nivale Riddell 
The Snow Trillium is one of the very earliest of large spring 
flowers. It is distributed in woods from Pennsylvania and Ohio 
to Minnesota, south to Kentucky and west to Nebraska, but 
within this region it is of quite local 
occurrence, being entirely absent 
from some localities and in other 
places forming large and conspicuous 
patches in the woods. 
The stem is 2-6 inches high and 
the 3 leaves are petioled. The pedun- 
cle is sometimes erect and sometimes 
bent or curved beneath the leaves. 
The 3 sepals are green and the 3 
petals pure white. The anthers of 
the 6 stamens are about as long as 
the filaments. The fruit is a 3-lobed 
berry. 
The Drooping Trillium, Trillium 
declinatum (Gray) Gleason, is another 
white Trillium which occurs in woods 
and blooms in May and June. It is 
larger than the Snow Trillium, the 
stem being about 1 foot high. Leaves 
are 3-5 inches long and about as broad. They havea short point and 
are narrowed at the base but are very nearly sessile. The peduncle 
is 144-2% inches long and either horizontal or bent downward. The 
unpleasantly scented flower has 3 white, oblong-ovate petals and 3 
green sepals about one-half inch long, filaments of the 6 stamens 
half as long as the anthers, and a white or pinkish ovary. 
A dainty inhabitant of rich woods but rare in Illinois is the 
Nodding Trillium, Trillium cernuum L., in which the horizontal or 
declined stem hides the white flowers beneath the broad leaves. 
Petals and the ovary may be pinkish, and the filaments are nearly 
or exactly equal to the anthers in length. The fruit is a red-purple 
ovoid berry. The range of this species is from Newfoundland to 
Manitoba and south to Georgia and Missouri. It should not be 
confused with the larger, strong-odored T. declinatum, above. 
Nearby a scarlet creeper trails a fence, 
Nearer a hawthorn tree 
Drops its wee crimson apples into the lush green grass. 
The Golden Bowi—Mary McMILLAN 
61 
