Toadshade
Trillium sessile
Also known as: Sessile Trillium
Stalkless dark-maroon upright flower sitting directly on the whorl of mottled silver-and-green leaves. Faint carrion scent attracts fly pollinators. Smaller than *T. cuneatum* but similar look. Young leaves make a salad green or cooked potherb, tasting somewhat like sunflower seeds — though picking them can set this slow-growing plant back for years.
- Family
- Melanthiaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 0.5–1 ft
- Spacing
- 0.5–1 ft apart
- Light
- shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- April
- Bloom colors
- red
- Wildlife value
- pollinators
- Landscape uses
- border, container
- Native states
- AL, AR, DC, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MI, MO, NC, NY, OH, OK, PA, TN, VA, WV
Related native plants
More Trillium species
- Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
- Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
- Red Trillium (Trillium erectum)
- Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum)
- Drooping Trillium (Trillium flexipes)
- Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum)