Persistent Trillium

The Persistent Trilliums are blooming this morning at Tallulah Gorge State Park. We found several. You do have to look pretty hard to find them. They are on the endangered species list and only are found in a few counties of NE Georgia and NW South Carolina. These are for the most part within 4 miles of Tallulah Gorge (Tallulah Falls, Georgia). I have found that they usually are in bloom for about 3 weeks in the spring. The flower is small and often bends over a bit making them fairly hard to photograph.

Life beginnings of the Trillium erectum

Aka: Wake-robin, Red Trillium, Purple Trillium, Beth Root or Stinking Benjamin

Trillium erectum is sometimes called a “Stinking Benjamin” for good reason, well, it stinks. It's smell is that of rotting flesh! But, this stink of rotting flesh has a purpose. You see, the life of a Trillium begins with the pollination within its parent flower. We all know that bees pollinate flowers to complete the reproduction process. We have all have heard the story of the “birds and the bees”. Well, if you haven’t you must be very young. In the case of the Trillium erectum it is a different story; it is pollinated by flies. So, it is to the Stinking Benjamin’s smell that attracts the flies that in turn pollinate this trillium’s “flower”.

But wait, there is more! Other creatures are required to continue the life cycle of Trilliums and these busy creatures are ants! Once the flower is pollinated the trillium produces seeds. These seeds have an oil bearing fruit covering called an elaisome. The elasisome parts attract ants. The ants pick the seeds, take them home and feed the elasisome parts to their larvae. What remains are the seeds that are covered with waste the ants have produced in the process. This mixture of waste and seed is buried by the ants and it makes a fine bed for the seeds to germinate. This is the first part of the life cycle of the Stinking Benjamin.