Wikimedia Commons
Liliaceae
Trout Lily
Erythronium americanum
Patience and hidden beauty.
- Family
- Liliaceae
- Genus
- Erythronium
- Native to
- Eastern North America
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- bulb
- Height
- 0.3-0.8 ft
- Sunlight
- part shade to full shade
- Soil
- moist, rich, humus-filled
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 3-8
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- The mottled brown and green leaves resemble the skin patterns of a brook trout, giving it the common name trout lily.
- A trout lily colony can take 7 to 8 years from seed to produce its first flower, and individual plants may live for decades.
- The bulbs (corms) grow deeper each year by contractile roots that literally pull them further into the soil.
- Trout lily is a spring ephemeral that completes its entire above-ground life cycle in just 6 to 8 weeks before the forest canopy leafs out.
- Ants disperse the seeds by carrying them to their nests for the nutritious elaiosome attached to each seed, then discarding the seed to germinate.
Color meanings
0
solitude
1
quiet grace