Liliaceae, the lily family.
Description:
Plant:
Purple trillium is a low plant 8"-16" tall, blooming in early
spring with a single, three-petaled dark-red flower rising from whorl of three leaves. Typically several units grow together.
Perennial, rising from rootstock each year.
Flower:
Single, three maroon or dark-red petals backed by three green or
greenish-purple sepals, 1.5"-2.5" across,
nodding or erect on slender stem. Foul-smelling.
Leaves:
Smooth-margined, broadly triangular to heart-shaped, without stem (sessile), attached at point in a single whorl of 3 from which the
flower stem arises. To 6" wide.
Fruit:
An oval, dark red berry.
Blooming:
April-Early May
Habitat:
Deciduous woods.
Comments:
A beautiful, early spring flower.
Foul smell and dark red color supposedly attract the flies that
pollinate the plant by resemblance to carrion.
The roots are emetic, the berries suspect.
Where to find it:
Scattered locations in woods in the park, along with other trilliums, early in spring before the tree leaves are fully out.