_Rootstock:_ Thick, horizontal, jointed, scarred. (_Polygonatum_ = many
joints.) _Fruit:_ A blue-black berry.

_Preferred Habitat_--Woods, thickets, shady banks.

_Flowering Season_--April-June.

_Distribution_--New Brunswick to Florida, westward to Michigan.

From a many-jointed, thick rootstock a single graceful curved stem
arises each spring, withers after fruiting, and leaves a round scar,
whose outlines suggested to the fanciful man who named the genus the
seal of Israel's wise king. Thus one may know the age of a root by its
seals, as one tells that of a tree by the rings in its trunk.


Early or Dwarf Wake-Robin

_Trillium nivale_

_Flowers_--Solitary, pure white, about 1 in. long, on an erect or curved
peduncle, from a whorl of 3 leaves at summit of stem. Three spreading,
green, narrowly oblong sepals; 3 oval or oblong petals; 6 stamens, the
anthers about as long as filaments; 3 slender styles stigmatic along
inner side. _Stem_: 2 to 6 in. high, from a short, tuber-like rootstock.
_Leaves_: 3 in a whorl below the flower, 1 to 2 in. long, broadly oval,
rounded at end, on short petioles. _Fruit_: A 3-lobed reddish berry,
about 1/2 in. diameter, the sepals adhering.

_Preferred Habitat_--Rich, moist woods and thickets.