Drooping Trillium, Declining Trillium, Trillium flexipes, Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Drooping Trillium	Trillium flexipes Raf.	Lily (Liliaceae)	Woodland	Spring
Other names and notes	(Nodding Wakerobin, Declining Trillium). The flower has a 1/2 to 4 inch long stalk, causing the flower head to "droop," but still held above the leaves at an angle unlike Nodding Trillium where it hangs beneath the leaves. The petals are lance shape and about equal in length with the green sepals. The flower anthers being yellowish and more than 1/4" long. The stalkless leaves, in a whorl of 3 atop the stem are at least as wide as they are long, the stem being up to 16" high. The plant grows from a thick rhizome and will spread over time to form a nice clump as shown in the photo below.




Above: A single specimen of the plant clearly showing the drooping flower head on a long stem. Below: A grouping of Drooping Trillium with leaves of Trout Lily, Large-flowered Bellwort and Spotted Geranium visible.

Notes: Former Curator Martha Crone noted in her log of planting it in 1935. Native to the woods of SE Minnesota and most of the metro area. In North America it ranges from the Mississippi River eastward in the U.S., excepting New England, Florida and South Carolina and in Canada is found in Ontario.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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