Prairie Trillium, also known as Bloody Butcher, is a native woodland wildflower that is one of the easier Trillium spp. to grow in the garden due to its vigorous growth rate. The underground rhizomes spread quickly to form lovely loose colonies. The three-part leaves are mottled, adding an eye-catching contrast to the shade garden. The maroon flowers are sessile (attached directly without a stalk) and the recurved sepals hug the stem, giving this plant its Latin name. This is one of the smallest species of the sessile form of Trilliums. The common name of "Prairie" Trillium is misleading because its preferred habitat is rich woodlands in floodplains, with the shade of deciduous trees. They will go summer dormant after setting seed. The seeds of Prairie Trilliums will spread around, often a good distance from the mother plants, with a lot of help from ants! The ants gather the freshly ejected seeds and carry them back to their nests to eat the fleshy appendage attached to the seed coat (called elaiosomes). The undamaged seeds are then discarded in their midden heaps, which are a perfectly rich and protected substrate for the seeds to germinate in. This mutualistic interaction helps many spring ephemerals to spread around the landscape, since most of their seeds are too heavy for wind transport and are unviable if they get desiccated.
Sources:
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers by William Cullina
Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Allan M. Armitage
Missouri Botanical Garden
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Illinois Wildflowers
NC State Extension
The Morton Arboretum-Black Walnut Tolerance
