Description: This native perennial plant is 2½–4" tall and unbranched. It produces a single glabrous stem that terminates in a whorl of 3 leaves. The stem is light green, sometimes with reddish brown tints. The leaves are up to 2½" long; they are green or olive green, oval or broadly ovate, hairless, and smooth along the margins. Their venation is parallel. The base of each leaf is more rounded than its tip; it has a short petiole.
Mature plants produce a single flower on
a short peduncle about ½" long that is straight or arching. The flower
is up to 2" across, consisting of 3 white petals, 3 green sepals, 6 yellow
stamens, and a a tripartite style. The petals are oval-ovate and often slightly
undulate along their margins. The recurved sepals are lanceolate and often
slightly reddish or yellowish on the outer surface. The blooming period occurs
during early to mid-spring and lasts about 2 weeks. Each fertilized flower is
replaced by a 3-lobed fruit that is about ½" long. The root system
consists of a thickened rootstock, secondary feeder roots, and rhizomes. Snow
Trillium can reseed itself, but it more often produces vegetative clones from
the rhizomes. At favorable sites, colonies are often formed.
Cultivation: The preference is filtered sunlight
during the spring (before the trees leaf out), and light shade during the
summer. The soil should be mesic to dry, and loamy or rocky with a shallow
layer of decaying
leaves. There should not be too much competition from other ground layer plants
during the late spring or the summer. The foliage withers away by the end of
summer.
Range & Habitat: Snow
Trillium occurs in central and northern Illinois, where it is rather uncommon.
However, it is locally common at a few high quality sites. Habitats include
thinly wooded bluffs and slopes of bluffs along rivers. This is an indicator
species of high quality upland woodlands. It grows where the layer of decaying
leaves is not too thick.
Faunal
Associations: Very few insects visit the early-blooming flowers for
nectar or pollen. Most likely, the flowers are pollinated by Andrenid bees,
queen bumblebees, and other bees that become active early in the spring. The
fruits are probably eaten by small mammals and birds, although there is a lack
of information regarding the particular species that do this. Such animals can
help to introduce the seeds into new areas. Deer are very partial to the
foliage of Trilliums, although the Snow Trillium may be less vulnerable to
their browsing than others because of its small size and strong tendency to
grow on inaccessible slopes.
Photographic
Location: The slope of a bluff in Vermillion County,
Illinois.
Comments: This is one of
the earliest wildflowers to bloom in woodlands and it is the smallest Trillium.
The Snow Trillium can be distinguished from other white-flowered Trilliums by
considering the following features: 1) It is only 2-4" tall while in bloom, 2)
It blooms earlier in the spring than other Trilliums, 3) It has white flowers
on a short stalk that is erect or arching, and 4) Each fruit has 3 conspicuous
lobes. The common name refers to the fact that snow can be found on the ground
when the flowers bloom. This cute little Trillium should be protected wherever
it is found.