nodding trillium

Trillium cernuum is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads by means of an underground rhizome. Up to three scapes (stems) rise directly from the rhizome, each standing 15–40 cm (6–16 in) tall. At the apex of the scape is a whorl of three leaf-like bracts, each 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) long and 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) wide. Flowering occurs from late April to early June, possibly as late as July in the northern part of its range. A solitary flower hangs below the bracts (leaves) on a short recurved pedicel 1.5–3 cm (0.6–1.2 in) long. The flower has three slender pale green sepals, each 9–30 mm (0.4–1.2 in) long, and three strongly recurved white (rarely pink) petals, each 15–25 mm (0.6–1.0 in) long and 5–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) wide. The flower is bisexual with six stamens and a single white (or pink) ovary shaped like a pyramid. Each stamen consists of a thin white filament and a pale lavender-pink (or gray) anther. The filaments and anthers are about the same length. If the flower is successfully pollinated, a single fruit develops. Initially the fruit is white (or pink), ripening to a dark red by late summer. When ripe, the fruit is a plump six-lobed berry up to 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter.

Historically, Trillium cernuum has been confused with several nodding Trillium species native to the southern Appalachian Mountains. …

The range of Trillium cernuum extends across Canada, from Saskatchewan in the west to Newfoundland in the east, and as far south as northern Virginia in the mid-Atlantic United States. The species is known to occur in the following provinces, states, and territories:

Canada: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan United States: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin France: Saint Pierre and Miquelon At the southern end of its range, T. cernuum grows in rich, cool, moist to swampy deciduous woods, and along shrubby stream banks and pond edges of deep forests. In Michigan, it also occurs along streams and swamps, but in conifer-hardwood forests. In its northern range, it occurs in dryer (although still moist), upland deciduous-coniferous woods. As of October 2019, T. cernuum is globally secure. It is vulnerable (or worse) in at least a dozen states and provinces. In particular, it is critically imperiled in Illinois, Indiana, and West Virginia. In Lake County, Ohio, a single specimen was collected in 1879, but T. cernuum is now thought to be extirpated from Ohio.