Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Snow Trillium


Tom and I made a special trip to Brukner Nature Center on March 22 to see the snow trillium(Trillium nivale). I had to go back through my daily journal to find the correct date. I find it hard to believe that it has been eight days since we made that trip. I am glad we did. There are years when I don't see it. It blooms early, and is gone by the time the wild flowers are abundant in our area.


In this photo you can see a size comparison with the Hepatica.

Brukner is the only place I know where I can see this trillium, the earliest of the trilliums. There are large patches on the Hickory Ridge Trail below the bench and at the foot of Short Step Hill.

There was little information about this plant in the reference books in my natural history collection so I went to the Internet. It occurs only in woodlands and in ravines where the soil is very thin over limestone. The major threat to this trillium is habitat destruction by logging, quarrying, grazing, and land development. It is listed as vulnerable or imperiled in most of its known area.

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