Stats

Status

Common

About

A native woodland wildflower of eastern North America, bearing a single deep maroon-red three-petaled flower above a whorl of three broad leaves. Its bloom gives off a faint odor of rotting meat to attract carrion flies and beetles as pollinators, earning it the nickname "stinking Benjamin."

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Liliales

Family

Melanthiaceae

Genus

Trillium

Species

Trillium erectum