Trout Lily

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Trout Lily

The woods are blooming full of trout lily in Wisconsin. I have been lucky to track down the White Trout variety(Erythronium albidum) and the Yellow variety (Erythronium americanum).

General Information On Trout Lily

Scientific Name:	White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum) Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
(Native) Family:	Liliaceae – Lily Family
Bloom Time:	April, May, and through mid-June farther north. Depending on weather.
Other Names:	• Trout Lily • Fawn Lily • Spotted Adder’s-Tongue • Dogtooth Violet

Gets its name from it’s spotted pattern on the leaves which look a lot like the pattern on a Trout. Some people also call the flower a Dogtooth Violet, I always giggle because it is not a violet at all, it is a lily.

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

YELLOW ADDER’S TONGUE

These flowers are familiar and a welcomed site to all who wander beside woodland brooks in the Spring. The name “Violet” is of course a misnomer. It is often locally known as the “Trout Lily” or the “Fawn Lily,” both of which names are far more appropriate.

The single flower grows at the top of a scape from 5 to 10 in. high; it is 6-parted. with a lily-like perianth, the sepals being dull yellowish spotted near the bases With brownish. Two elliptical-lanceolate leaves clasp the scape at its base, near the scaly bulb; they are pale green, mottled with purple and white. This species blooms in April and May in moist woods or swamps.

Images Of Yellow Lily

White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum)

E. albidum) is similar size and form but the flower that nods at the top of the scape is either white or pale violet. The two leaves are less distinctly, or not at all, spotted. This is found in the same range as the last.

As the day heats up, the flowers will open, most of which will be open by 10am.. For night ,they close once again.

With all varieties you will see many flowerless leaves on hillsides, it takes several years for the plant to store enough energy to produce a flower.