No pod yet? That’s a good sign, although the arterial color of the flower still worries me. Keep an eye out for any abnormal flowering structures which may contain mind-altering spores or explosively projected poison quills. Also, make sure that the plant doesn’t show any tendency to move about the yard of its own volition, sway as if in a breeze even in calm weather, or glow weirdly at night with an eldritch, unnamable colour not of this earth. Any dead livestock found in the vicinity should also be examined with grave suspicion.
It’s already starting to multiply. Yes, I found another one about 20 feet away. I’m sure a horrible pod-related death is imminent.
DO NOT sleep next to it.
Wisconsin is full of the white ones. The Northern Kettle Moraine area in particular. I think in a couple months they’ll die back, and you don’t have to worry about mowing over them. You probably have the right to do what you want with them so long as you don’t sell them. Move them or mow them, so long as you don’t sell them. I’ve never seen the red varity in person. Special plants I see while walking the bog are Lady Slippers, Showy Orchis, Jack in the Pulpet, Pitcher Plants, Skunk Cabbage, and Marsh Marigolds.
Thanks for the info. I don’t want to sell them. But I’m so impatient…I don’t think I can wait six years for these little seedlings to start growing.
I love the white ones. The pictures I see of huge patches of them are just magnificent! We have a lower area on our property that has lots of trees and a little stream. I’m going to see if there are any more down there. That area is probably much kinder to them. I’m still curious as to why they decided to sprout in the yard. Oh well…one of nature’s little mysteries, I guess.
That looks just like the ‘Bloody Butcher’ Trillium we have growing in the far backyard. It’s really sort of wet back there, since we’re near the creek. They’re beautiful! We also have white ones, too.
That’s one weird, nifty lookin’ plant! Looking at the USDA page, Nevada is like, the one state of the union those things don’t grow in. Shame, they’re pretty!
~Tasha
It looks a lot like Trillium sessile, if we’re looking for a species.
My first thought was also trillium, although I was not familiar with any variegated leaf trillia (trilliums?). However, I did find a photo of a Relict Trillium (Trillium reliquum) that looks close. A rather strong objection against that ID is that it appears to be a Southern plant.
Finally, I did find a mottled leaf trillium in Illinois: Prairie Trillium (Trillium recurvatum)
I’ve never seen a variegated trillium. My grandfather once found a freak ‘quadrillium’ in the woods near Morton WA (4 leaves, 4 petals on the flower) but a deer ate it and it never came up again.
My mother has red, white, and yellow trilliums in her yard. A lot of the white ones came from my neighbor’s yard, which had about a hundred of them (and they transplanted remarkably well). They appear to spread by rhizome or other underground root growth, rather than by seeds, but I suppose they probably do spread by seeds also.
Dude, that it exactly it. I was hoping the petals would be broader (on account of I can barely see them amidst the jungle I call a lawn), but they’re still very cool.
I went down to our low land yesterday looking for more trillium (none to be found). But I found a really pretty little daisy-like yellow flower (maybe the size of a dime or smaller) on a long, thin stem. I’ll get some pics of those; maybe you guys can tell me what they are.
I’ll predict it’s Yellow Hawkweed. Not that other yellow flowers aren’t out now.
http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/yellowhawkweed.htm
It might be hawkweed, but I don’t usually see that until June. (Of course, local climates are probably a bit different.)
This time of year, (either just before or just after the dandelions make it out), I see Colt’s Foot (second picture) or Colts Foot (first picture) for a few days (and again for a couple of days in Autumn).