I learned a new word. It’s “wake robin.” Wake robin refers to several flowers that bloom in the spring – they are plants that typically have arrow-shaped leaves. Namely, it is a term used to describe perennial plants in the genus of Trillium.
All trillium species belong to the Liliaceae (Lily) family. Despite the visual simplicity of trilliums, they all have three petals and three sepals. Trillium plants produce no true leaves or stems above ground. The “stem” is just an extension of the horizontal rhizome and produces tiny cataphylls (scale like leaves). The above-ground plant is technically a flowering stems (peduncles), and the leaf-like structures are bracts subtending the flower.
Pedicellate and Sessile Trilliums
Trilliums are generally divided into two major groups: the pedicellate and sessile trilliums. In the pedicellate trilliums, the flower sits upon a pedicel that extends from the whorl of bracts, either “erect” above the bracts, or “nodding” recurved under the bracts. In the sessile trilliums there are no stems (pedicel), and the flowers appear to arise directly from the bracts. U.S. Forest Service
Uses
Several species of Trillium contain chemical compounds called sapogenins have been used medicinally as astringents, coagulants, expectorants, and uterine stimulants.
Read the article from Anita Carpentar Flower of the Snow.
Common names of species of wake robin.
Read Accent on Natural’s article White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) – A Sure Sign of Spring
The photo on my e-mail was one of the sessile trilliums known as the prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum) courtesy of Illinois Wildflowers.
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