Thursday, May 21, 2009

trillium wood


the trillium is this province's official flower. it's appearance in the nearby woods is a brief event that is the herald of late spring. the trillium has a lot of very interesting features, one of which is that it is spread by the work of ants and mice. "trillium seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. the ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes and put the seeds in their garbage, where they can be protected until they germinate. they also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant garbage." (wikipedia)
what i do know is that they grow in profusion in our woods and make for a very beautiful show at a time when nature is just beginning to flex its green muscles. on my walk i came across a few little clusters . . . after which i found some larger gatherings . . .
and then when i had walked as far east as i could i turned and looked back and saw that the woods were in fact filled with these tiny three-petalled beauties! but my favourite was this slightly past its prime becoming pink-petalled rendering of a trillium that was all on its own in a distant corner . . .

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