32 
WHITE TRILLIUM. 
the breast of the early dead. The darker and more sanguine hue 
of the red species, T. sessile , and T. recurvatum , might have been 
selected for such as fell by violence, but these are but conjecture. 
A prettier name has been given to the Nodding Trillium: that of 
“ Smiling Wake-robin,” which seems to be associated with the coming 
of the cheerful chorister of early spring, “The household bird with the 
red stomacher,” as Bishop Carey calls the robin red-breast. The bota¬ 
nical name of the Trillium is derived from trilex, triple, all the parts 
of the plant being in threes. Thus we see the round fleshy scape 
furnished with three large sad green leaves, closely set round the 
stem ; two or three inches below the flower; which is composed of 
a calyx of three sepals, a corolla of three large snow white, or, else, 
chocolate red petals: the styles or stigmas three; ovary three celled ; 
stamens six , which is a reproduction of three. The white fleshy 
tuberous root is much used by the American School of Medicine in 
various diseases, also by the Indian herb doctors. 
Trillium grandiflorum is the largest and most showy of the white 
species. Trillium nivdle or “lesser snowy Trillium,” is the smallest; 
this last blooms early in May. May and June are the months in 
which these flowers appear. The white flowered trilliums are subject 
to many varieties, and accidental alterations. The green of the 
sepals is often transferred to the white petals in T. nivale; some 
are found handsomely striped with red and green, and in others 
the very short foot-stalk of the almost sessile leaves are lengthened 
into long petioles. The large White Trillium is changed previous 
to its fading to a dull reddish lilac. 
The Red Trilliums are rich but sombre in colour, the petals are 
longish-ovate, regular, not waved, and the pollen is of a greyish dusty 
