John found a stand of purple trillium in our woods! I never knew it grew there. The trillium here are much smaller than in New Hampshire, but very lovely. Above is a macro photo of the bloom. "Tri" means three — and there are three petals in trillium.
Above is another blossom that has probably been damaged by the heavy snowfall we had just before we discovered the trillium.
In the photo above you can see the three leaves that all trillium have. The leaves are always in a fan underneath the blossom. But these are not really leaves. They are
bracts. The true leaves of trillium are underground.
Finally, this is what the stand of trillium looks like when you are walking in the woods. They are so small that you can easily miss seeing them. Some trillium species are protected in some states and in some parks. If the flowers are picked, they can't produce food for next year and the plant will die.
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