Trillium

Trillium flowers, or wake-robins, are well-known harbingers of spring. It's a joy each year to see them start to pop up and bloom.

This is western trillium - Trillium ovatum - one of two common species in this area. The other is Trillium chloropetalum - giant wake robin. You can recognize T. ovatum easily by the section of its stem between the base of the flower and the attachment of the leaves (actually leaf-like bracts?). T. chloropetalum on the other hand is sessile - the flower is directly subtended by the leaves.

The white petals will change to pink over time.

One of the many things I have just learned reading up on Trillium, is that you should not pick them! Picking the flowers inhibits the the underground parts' (the rhizomes') ability to bloom again the next year, since without the leaves they're unable to photosynthesize and stock up for the next season. So, enjoy them in situ, not in vase!

Now here's a fun fact: Trillium seeds are dispersed by ants! It's totally common for animals to spread seeds of plants whose fruit they eat, but I think of birds and rodents and such. This is the first I've heard of ants playing that role - pollination, sure, but seed dispersal? Well silly me; apparently it's really common. The seed is attached to a fleshy structure called an elaiosome which is rich in lipids and proteins, and attracts ants. The ants lug the whole mess to their nests, eat the goodies, discard the seed, and voila!

Trillium are currently in the lily family (Liliaceae). But it's been re-classified a few times. In my beloved copy of Mary Elizabeth Parson's The Wildflowers of California published 1921, they're in the lily family. In the Pocket Flora of the Redwood Forest (Becking, 1982), they're in their own family, Trilliaceae, along with the fetid adder's tongue (Scoliopus bigelovii). Now they're both back in Liliaceae. Are you a lumper or a splitter? I'm neither, I just try to keep up.

I brought out the tripod for this lovely growing in the shade near my house - to get a sharper image. I will do that more often when I get a shorter tripod. Now that I'm shooting flowers, I'll need one. As you'll see, flash photography is not my cup of tea, at least for this project. I want my photos to show the light the flowers see.

These photos taken on March 14 in Little River, Ca