red trillium

Trillium erectum is a perennial, herbaceous, flowering plant that persists by means of an underground rhizome. Like all trilliums, it has a whorl of three bracts (leaves) and a single trimerous flower with three sepals, three petals, two whorls of three stamens each, and three carpels (fused into a single ovary with three stigmas). It grows to about 40 cm (16 in) in height with a spread of 30 cm (12 in). The petals are dark reddish brown, maroon, purple, pale yellow, or white. The ovary is dark purple to maroon regardless of petal color. If the flower is successfully pollinated, the petals wither, leaving behind a fruit that ripens to a dark red berry-like capsule, 1–1.5 cm (0.39–0.59 in) long.

Species complex. Trillium erectum shares many anatomical details with other North American Trillium species. These species hybridize in the wild, which has led some researchers to group them into a species complex, specifically, a syngameon of semispecies. The combinations of traits that are supposed to differentiate members of the complex from one another are sometimes inconsistently combined in wild populations. This has led some researchers to declare the individual species invalid, and refer to the species complex collectively as T. erectum (sensu lato). …

Trillium erectum is native to eastern North America. Its range extends from northern Georgia in the southeastern United States to Quebec and New Brunswick in eastern Canada, and as far west as Michigan and southern Ontario. The species is known to occur in the following provinces and states:

Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec United States: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia Trillium erectum var. album (as described in the Flora of the Southeastern United States) occurs in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and other areas surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains, primarily at elevations less than 450 m (1,480 ft). As of October 2019, Trillium erectum is globally secure. It is critically imperiled in Delaware, Illinois, and Rhode Island.

Trillium erectum is a carrion-scented flower. It produces fetid or putrid odors purported to attract carrion fly and beetle pollinators. The fetid odor is described as that of a wet dog. The common name stinking benjamin refers to this characteristic of the plant. "Benjamin" is a corruption of the word benzoin, which itself is a corruption of the word "benjoin", a plant-based organic compound used in the manufacture of perfume. Despite the origins of the common name, the chemical basis of carrion-scented flowers is not well understood. Trillium erectum can tolerate extreme cold in winter, surviving temperatures down to −35 °C (−31 °F).

The root of the red trillium was used by various indigenous peoples of North America as an aid in childbirth, hence the common name birthwort or birthroot (which is sometimes corrupted to bethroot). Root tea was used for menstrual disorders, to induce childbirth, and to aid in labor. The Cherokee peoples used a poultice of the whole plant to treat tumors, inflammation, and ulcers. The leaves contain calcium oxalate as raphides and should not be consumed by humans. Trillium erectum is cultivated as a flowering ornamental plant. Although not as showy as T. grandiflorum, the flowers of some forms of T. erectum can be quite striking, especially since it tends to form large clumps. It has received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.