Wildflower Wednesday–April 23, 2014

I adore the Catesby’s trillium (T. catesbaei) in my front garden and am especially tickled that it bloomed in time to star in April’s Wildfower Wednesday.

Trillium catesbaei

Why do I like this particular trillium? First, it’s a pass-along plant from a friend with an extensive wildflower collection. Most of her plants were purchased many years ago at a time when it was commonplace for mountain folk to dig native plants from the wild and sell them at a downtown market. So, I’m happy to have a plant that reminds me of my friend and I’m also glad to keep this “captive” thriving, and even multiplying. In 2013 there was a single plant, but now there are four!

I also like the trillium because it’s perky and petite. The perennial is less than a foot tall and it’s blooms are the size of a quarter. Plus, the egg-yolk yellow anthers pop with color against the rosy recurved petals.

This pink bloom opened today; flowers typically darken after pollination by bumblebees.

Finally, the name of the plant honors Mark Catesby, a British naturalist who explored the plants and animals of the Southeast in the early 1700s. Catesby produced the first published account of flora and fauna of North America, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. I have four Catesby prints hanging in the dinning room. My favorite features the red-bellied woodpecker and the hairy woodpecker on black oak.

Catesby print of woodpeckers and black oak.

To see more wildflowers in bloom, visit Gail at Clay and Limestone.