Flowers:

It is a real thrill to come across a painted trillium on a trail in NJ. Like other trilliums with flower parts of 3 or multiples of 3, the painted trillium flower has 3 petals, 3 sepals, 3 parted stigma, 6 stamens and a whorl of 3 leaves just below the flower. However, its stunning splash of red on the white petals makes it distinctive. The flower is about 2 inches across and is not easily missed. The splash of red is described as an inverted V at the base of each petal. The red streaks act as guides for its pollinators. Trillium offers pollen.

Flower: note the wavy edges of the petals. The species undulatum means wavy for the wavy margins of the petals. The splash of color is reddish maroon and the lines serve as pollinator guides. The sepals also have some reddish maroon in them.

Flower with its whorl of 3 leaves below it:

Flower closeup: 6 stamens with white filaments and anthers that are red/maroon. The anthers exhibit extrorse dehisence, meaning the anthers open and release their polllen mainly in the back of the anther away from the center of the flower. However, the white pollen can be seen at the edges of the anthers. The 3 parted stigma is attached to a pale yellow 3 lobed ovary.

Close up of ovary: Photo shows a 6 lobed ovary. The stigmas are defocused.

This shows the erect pedicel (flower stalk from flower to leaves) and its attachment to the whorl of leaves. The pedicel can be 2 inches long. The leaves have very short stalks (petioles).

Side view of flower on top of erect pedicel: The white petals are slightly recurved (bending backwards). The stigmas that are barely fused can clearly be seen.

This flower has wider petals. Note also pink at the tip of the ovary just below the stigma. The ovary is sometimes tinged with pink. The three parted stigma is clear.

Fruit:

The fruit is red/maroon slightly 3 angles to round and is about 3/4 inch long. The fruit starts off green and later turns bright red. It is fleshy.

Like many spring flowers, the trillium seeds have attachments called elaiosomes that are high energy food for the ants. After the seeds mature, the fruits open and drop the seeds to the ground. Ants carry the seeds back to their nest, eat the elaiosomes, and discard the seeds in their waste area where the seeds will eventually germinate. This is called myrmecochory.

Yellow jackets (Vespula spp.) and other wasps have been found to be attracted to the elaiosomes too. Ants carry the seeds on average about 3 ft and yellow jackets carry seeds on average 4.5 ft.

We are hoping to get some photos of fruit soon.

Leaves:

The 3 leaves are dark green and frequently with a hint of maroon. They have short petioles (leaf stalks) and can be up to 6 inches long and 5 inches wide. The leaves are technically bracts. Some literature refer to the leaves as bracts.

The painted trillium plant has one unbranched stalk which is topped by the single terminal flower just above the 3-leaf whorl. The plant can be 15 inches tall or more. The stalk emerges from a short thick rhizome which is a specialized underground horizontal stem. Rarely, more than one flower stalk emerges from a rhizome. Interestingly the flower stalk is technically an extension of the rhizome and is termed a scape in some of the literature.

The plant only flowers after it is 4-7 years old or older. In the first year, a seed just sends out a root underground. The next year, it will send out a small leaf assuming the environment is right. During the third though fourth year or longer, it sends out a leaf in order to photosynthesize and provide energy for growing a rhizome below. Then it will produce the 3 normal leaves for several years. Finally, it will produce a flower! If the rhizome is not disturbed, it can be long-lived.

Trilliums are highly impacted by deer browse.

The plant grows in northern hardwoods and mixed conifer-hardwood forests to further south on high elevation forests (on mountains). It prefers moist rich acidic soils with partial sunlight.

There are 43 species of Trillium world wide, 38 are in North America mostly in the eastern states. New Jersey has only 4. One of the NJ trilliums is the painted trillium.

In NJ, painted trillium, Trillium undulatum is S2 (Imperiled). In iNaturalist the 20 observations are all up north and the locations are obscured (2025). We observed them in Sussex County also. Painted trillium are S5 (secure) in our neighboring states, NY & PA and in iNaturalist very many of the observation not obscured. If you do observe them, please do not pick! Enjoy them with a photograph!

Generally, trilliums are divided into 2 major groups: pedicellate (with a flower stalk) trilliums and sessile trilliums. Sessile trilliums have no flower stalks. The flowers arise directly from the whorl of leaves (bracts). The pedicellate trilliums have obvious flower stalks that extend from whorls of leaves (bracts). The Weakly reference below is a good key to the trilliums.