Wood Lily (Trillium Sessile)

Features and Characteristics

Trillium sessile, sometimes commonly called toad trillium, is a Missouri native that grows up to 12″ high. An unbranched, naked stem is topped by three, evenly-spaced, sessile, ovate, dark green, leaf-like bracts (up to 4″ long) that are mottled with purple or white. The flower (2″ high) features three erect petals of variable color (maroon to brownish purple to dark red) and appears stalkless atop the center of the three-leaf whorl. Flowers have a musky fragrance. A clump-forming plant with stems arising from thick, underground rhizomes which will spread slowly if left undisturbed. Foliage will usually die to the ground by mid-summer, particularly if the soil is allowed to dry out.

Genus name means “triple lily”, in reference to how all the main parts of the plant occur in threes. Linnaeus originally placed this genus in the Liliaceae family.

Specific epithet means stalk-less.

The trillium is a simple, graceful perennial that is one of the most familiar and beloved of the spring woodland wildflowers. Leaves, petals and sepals of all trilliums come in groups of three.