General Description: This is a early-blooming, perennial wildflower with a pale green to dark reddish-purple colored stem, 4-10in (10-25cm) long. The stem is topped with a single whorl of 3 spreading leaves, as is typical of all species of Trillium. Leaves are 1.2-3in (3-8cm) long, 0.4-1.2in (1-3cm) wide, slightly folded along the mid-vein and long-tapering to a sharp point with no petioles and a wedge shaped base. Leaves are dark green on the upper surface and paler or whitened below. The solitary showy flowers have 3 white petals, 0.8-1.4in (20-35mm) long and 0.2-0.4in (5-10mm) wide) that have edges slightly curled or twisted, growing from the middle of the leaf whorl. Flower anthers are straight and pale yellow. The flowers turn pink with age. The fruit is a fleshy capsule, greenish white, weakly six-lobed with 5-40 seeds. Fruiting occurs in late June to July. Similar species: Common rose trillium (Trillium catesbaei) has a larger white to pink flower with arching petals held on a reclining flower stalk. Its flower anthers are twisted and bright, egg-yolk yellow.

General Habitat: Restricted to the Tallulah-Tugaloo River system in northeast Georgia where it is typically found on steep slopes growing under rhododendrons (Rhododendron maximum or R. minus) in mixed pine-hemlock-hardwood in moist, rocky, well-drained coves and ravines. Clearing, burning, thinning, grazing and soil/site disturbance are destroying its habitat.

                                                         Flowering and fruiting chart