Wake Robin

[AlanLichty]

This unusual looking bloom belongs to a member of the trillium family which I think is Trillium angustipetalum. This is one of the earliest plants to bloom and one of the most long lasting as well. Not a NW native but it seems to like it here a lot and has managed to escape the beds where they were originally planted.

C&C always welcome.

 

[KevinA]

What a fascinating flower Alan, and great photo of it as well

 

[AlanLichty]

What a fascinating flower Alan, and great photo of it as well

Thanks Kevin - the "flowers" are actually quite large with each of these being roughly the size of an outstretched hand. I honestly didn't realize they were flowers for several years after my wife planted them

 

[JimFox]

That's great Alan! What an unusual flower.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

This unusual looking bloom belongs to a member of the trillium family which I think is Trillium angustipetalum. This is one of the earliest plants to bloom and one of the most long lasting as well. Not a NW native but it seems to like it here a lot and has managed to escape the beds where they were originally planted.

View attachment 71398

C&C always welcome.

Nice image, Alan. However, I think that this image has a slight green cast. The flowers typically have a reddish color. This plant propagates by extending its rhizomes outward from the original plants and can cover large areas as a result. That is why it seems to move.

 

[AlanLichty]

That's great Alan! What an unusual flower.

Thanks Jim!

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice image, Alan. However, I think that this image has a slight green cast. The flowers typically have a reddish color. This plant propagates by extending its rhizomes outward from the original plants and can cover large areas as a result. That is why it seems to move.

Thanks Doug - I saw your post on my iPhone while I was in my shop and since the plant in the scene was only about 15' away I wandered out and compared my image to the blooms. The color above is accurate which leads me back to trying to figure out exactly which of the many variants of this plant we really have outside. There are nearly 40 variants of Trillium that are similar to this one and to be honest I am not certain I have ID'ed the right one given all the options I can see on the Wiki page. Quite a few variants do indeed have a lot more red in the flowers than this one shows. It appears to be a fairly common plant in the S.E. US.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Now I am guessing that the soil must be causing the variance.

 

[AlanLichty]

Now I am guessing that the soil must be causing the variance.

Soil differences might possibly be true. Our soils up here are on the acidic side of the pH scale for the most part.

I was out looking at the "colony" again this afternoon and can see a number of blooms that are a much darker color leaning towards reds. Two of them are in this scene up towards the top - one near the left border of the frame and the other about 1/3 the way in from the right. There were several more at the edge of the bed along a fence.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Interesting looking flower - pretty sure I haven't seen this before. Looks nice with the rain drenched leaves.

 

[AlanLichty]

Interesting looking flower - pretty sure I haven't seen this before. Looks nice with the rain drenched leaves.

Thanks Jameel - that turned out to be the last of our rainy mornings for a bit here. Glad I shot this when I did since these big leaves look nice when they are wet.