Trillium erectum Seeds | Bethroot
LATIN NAME: Trillium erectum
COMMON NAME: Bethroot, Red Trillium, Wake Robin
Plant Profile
Trillium erectum is a woodland perennial of eastern North America, with a whorl of three leaves and a single maroon flower held above them on a short stalk in April and May. The flower smells faintly of carrion, which is appropriate, since it is pollinated largely by flies and beetles.
It grows from a thick rhizome a few centimetres below the leaf litter, and a mature plant may be twenty years old. The name bethroot, or birthroot, records its use by Native American and later settler communities in childbirth. The three leaves are broadly oval and sit in a flat whorl, catching light in the brief spring window before the canopy closes.
Science & Biotechnology
The plant contains steroidal saponins, including diosgenin derivatives, and it is toxic if eaten in quantity. The traditional obstetric use has no clinical evidence and carries a real risk, since the dose that might affect uterine tone is close to the dose that causes vomiting and dizziness.
Its more interesting biology is reproductive. Seeds carry an elaiosome, a fatty appendage that ants collect, so the seed is carried into the nest and the embryo is left underground, a dispersal strategy shared with many spring woodland plants. The maroon colour comes from anthocyanins in the petals, which also absorb heat and keep the flower a degree or two warmer. Ants also eat part of the elaiosome and leave the rest, so the seed ends up in a midden where nutrients are concentrated.
Uses & Benefits
Dried rhizome was used in tinctures for menstrual and childbirth complications, a practice that has largely stopped. It appears in some historical herbals as an astringent for heavy bleeding.
It should not be taken internally. The plant is also under pressure from wild digging, and several American states list it as endangered or threatened, which makes wild-collected rhizome both unethical and often illegal. It is grown by specialist nurseries from seed or division. Gardeners grow it as a specimen for shaded borders, where the flower is best seen from close range.
Growing from Seed
Seed needs a warm period, a cold period and then another warm period, and seedlings may not appear until the second or third spring. Sow fresh in a shaded frame, keep the litter moist, and do not disturb the bed.
Flowering takes seven years or more from seed. Division of a mature rhizome in late summer is faster, but plants resent it and may skip a season. Give deep leaf mould, shade and no competition from ground cover, and the clump will slowly increase. Mark the site with a label, since the plant disappears completely by midsummer and is easy to dig by mistake. Seed collected just as the capsule softens should be sown at once, since it loses viability in storage.
Our Take
A slow, beautiful woodland plant that asks for a decade of patience and gives nothing to the medicine cabinet; grow it and leave the wild ones alone.
Related Reading
Readers interested in Bethroot frequently explore these as well: