Western Trillium © Francis E. Caldwell

Simple-shaped Flowers

Description A low plant with 1 white flower on a short stalk that grows from the center of a whorl of 3 broad, ovate leaves at top of an otherwise leafless stem.
Flowers: 1 1/2-3" (3.8-7.5 cm) wide; petals 3, ovate, becoming pink or reddish with age.
Leaves: 2-8" (5-20 cm) long, without stalks at base.
Height: 4-16" (10-40 cm).

Flower February-June.

Habitat Along stream banks and on the floor of open or deep woods, from low to rather high elevations.

Range British Columbia to central California; east to northwestern Colorado, Montana, and Alberta.

Discussion The name Wake Robin indicates that the flowers bloom in early spring, about the time the robin arrives. Only one other species in the West has a stalk between the flower and the leaves, Klamath Trillium (T. rivale), of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Giant Wake Robin (T. chloropetolum), which grows in dense patches west of the Cascade Mountains and in the Sierra Nevada, has no stalks at the base of the mottled leaves. Its petals vary from white to maroon; if maroon, usually with a white base. Roundleaf Trillium (T. petiolatum), from eastern Washington and Oregon, has long stalks on the leaves and dark red-brown petals.