Poetryinpictures

Above :  Fishing in Northern Ontario

Above and below:  Trillium flowers native to Northern Ontario,Canada

The white trillium has been Ontario’s provincial floral emblem since 1937. Its white blossom is associated with peace and hope.

The plant contains tannic acid and saponin. It was used by First Nations People and settlers as an antiseptic and a nerve tonic. The leaves were boiled in lard and applied to ulcers as a poultice, and also used to restrict gangrene. The roots were used to ease fevers and diarrhea. Another name for the plant used to be “birthroot,” originating from its use in easing the process of childbirth. However, no part of white trillium should be considered safe or edible for human consumption.

This elegant spring flower blooms about the same time as robins return, thus, the name “wake-robin”. The plant is called a “trillium” because the flower parts occur in threes, along with a whorl of three, broad, egg-shaped leaves. The single, large, white flower, up to 10 cm (4 in.) across, perches upright at the top of a stout 10 cm – 40 cm (4 – 16 in.) high stalk. Three white petals form the flower, with three green sepals beneath. At the flower’s centre are six stamens and a six-lobed ovary with three styles. The white petals fade over time to a dull pinkish purple, becoming slightly transparent.

The leaves in this trillium species are longer than in the western trillium, and shorten more gradually to a point.

White trillium grows from a short thick rhizome (underground stem). The fruit is a round, greenish, berry-like capsule, 15 mm – 25 mm (1/2 – 1 in.) in diameter. This slightly angled, six-sided fruit has many brown seeds. When mature, the whole capsule falls off the plant.