Little Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum)

Trillium cuneatum (Little Sweet Betsy) is a delightful spring ephemeral in rich eastern woodlands.  This photo (taken by my gardening companion) shows both the usual purple-flowered plants, along with a relatively-common yellow color morph. He describes this in his new blog Wildflower Ecology.

Trillium cuneatum

These are flowers normally enjoyed in 'gardens' in nature;  nursery-propagated plants are available, although pricey, as they take 5-6 yrs to become large enough to flower, when grown from seed.  If you see cheap (large) plants, they're likely to have been poached from the wild.

Spring wildflowers

It was cool and rainy today, but spring's pace is steady. The early spring wildflowers are out at Station Cove, a premier wildflower site in Upstate South Carolina.

The latest include Trillium cuneatum (Little Sweet Betsy), Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone), and Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple).

Hepatica flowers are already developing fruits and new leaves emerging.

The fiddleheads of one of the common ferns were also striking. It was a nice spring outing.