Snow Trillium, Trillium nivale, 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
	Snow Trillium	Trillium nivale Riddell	Lily (Liliaceae)	Woodland	Early Spring
Other names and notes	One of the earliest blooming flowers in the Garden, sometimes, as the name implies, prior to full snow melt. The three part flower is up to one inch wide with the petals, which are elliptical and much longer than the sepals, having a blunt tip. As the flower matures, the greenish-purplish sepals reflex back from the petals and stand out clearly between the white petals. The flower is solitary on a tall stalk above the three blunt leaves which form a whorl, which characterize the plant, although some plants may have somewhat pointed leaf tips. The flower stem slightly droops and the total height of the plant rarely exceeds 6 inches.


Above left: The glossy leaves below the flower belong to Common Periwinkle (Running Myrtle) (Vinca minor), among which grows this Snow Trillium, protected from drying temperatures by the green ground cover of the Myrtle. Above right: A group of plants showing the reflexed greenish-purplish sepals of mature flowers.

Below - Two historical photos. Left: A clump of blooming Snow Trillium on April 19, 1952. Right: A rare 4-petal Snow Trillium on April 22, 1957. Both photos from Kodachromes taken in the Garden by Martha Crone. Photos courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, Martha Crone Collection.

Notes: Eloise Butler's records show that she first planted this species, from plants obtained from Kelsey's Nurseries in North Carolina, on May 9, 1910. Additional plantings occurred on May 16, 1924 from Denison, Iowa and on April 22, 1928 from Decorah, Iowa. The second Garden Curator, Martha Crone, reported that in 1935 the Snow Trillium bloomed for one month. She planted 40 additional plants in 1934. Native to Minnesota in the SE parts but under environmental pressure as it is listed on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources "Special Concern" list. Per the DNR "A species is considered a species of special concern if, although the species is not endangered or threatened, it is extremely uncommon in Minnesota, or has unique or highly specific habitat requirements and deserves careful monitoring of its status." In Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky and Maryland the plant is on the "Threatened" list, a more critical rating than "Special Concern." Its range in North America is very restricted - On the western edge from Minnesota to Missouri, touching on the eastern borders of South Dakota and Nebraska, and east to Pennsylvania (where it is now considered "rare") and south to Kentucky and Virginia.

Lore: Like many of the Trillium species, T. nivale has medicinal qualities. Roots contain volatile and fixed oils, tannic acid, saponin (a glucoside), and acrid crystalline, starch and other constituents. The dried root and rhizome can be boiled in milk for a useful drink for diarrhea and dysentery. Dried powdered root is used to make a fluid extract.

Former Garden Curator Martha Crone wrote:"After a long northern winter, what a welcome sight to find the brave little Snow Trilliums pushing thru the heavy blanket of leaves. They seem to defy the chilly nights and frosty weather." Published in The Fringed Gentian™ April 1958, Vol. 6 #2 and again in April 1959 - "With the spring's first sunbeam, it blooms briefly, ripens it's seeds and disappears for the rest of the season."

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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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