Trillium grandiflorum

Trillium grandiflorum
White trillium blooming in Backus Woods (Ontario, Canada).
Conservation status
Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Melanthiaceae
Genus:	Trillium
Species:	T. grandiflorum
Binomial name
Trillium grandiflorum (Michx.) Salisb.
Synonyms[2]
Trillium grandiflorum Trillium chandleri Farw. Trillium chandleri f. foliaceum Farw. Trillium chandleri f. gladewitzii Farw. Trillium chandleri f. palaceum Farw. Trillium chandleri f. plenum Farw. Trillium chandleri f. subulatum Farw. Trillium erythrocarpum Curtis Trillium grandiflorum f. chandleri (Farw.) Vict. Trillium grandiflorum f. lirioides (Raf.) Vict. Trillium grandiflorum var. minimum N.Coleman Trillium lirioides Raf. Trillium lirioides f. albomarginatum Farw. Trillium lirioides f. giganteum Farw. Trillium lirioides var. longipetiolatum Farw. Trillium lirioides f. subsessile Farw. Trillium lirioides f. ungulatum Farw. Trillium lirioides f. variegatum Farw. Trillium liroides f. vegetum Farw. Trillium obcordatum Raf. Trillium rhomboideum var. grandiflorum Michx.

Trillium grandiflorum, the white trillium,^[3] large-flowered trillium, great white trillium,^[4] white wake-robin or French: trille blanc, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. A monocotyledonous, herbaceous perennial, the plant is native to eastern North America, from northern Quebec to the southern parts of the United States through the Appalachian Mountains into northernmost Georgia and west to Minnesota. There are also several isolated populations in Nova Scotia, Maine, southern Illinois, and Iowa.^[5]

Trillium grandiflorum is most common in rich, mixed upland forests. It is easily recognised by its attractive three-petaled white flowers, opening from late spring to early summer, that rise above a whorl of three leaf-like bracts. It is an example of a spring ephemeral, a plant whose life-cycle is synchronised with that of the deciduous woodland which it favours.

White trillium often occurs in dense drifts of many individuals. The G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area in the Blue Ridge Mountains is renowned for an extensive stand of white trillium that blooms each spring. Over a two square mile area along the Appalachian Trail near Linden, Virginia there is a spectacular annual display of white trilliums estimated at near ten million individuals.^[4]