''Erythronium americanum'', the trout lily, yellow trout lily, or yellow dogtooth violet, is a species of

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

, colony forming, spring ephemeral flower native to North America and dwelling in woodland habitats. Within its range it is a very common and widespread species, especially in eastern North America. The common name "trout lily" refers to the appearance of its gray-green leaves mottled with brown or gray, which allegedly resemble the coloring of brook trout. The range is from

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

south to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, west to

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and north to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Description

Flowers

A yellow trout lily produces an erect flower stalk with a nodding, bisexual flower with 6 recurved, yellow, lanceolote

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s. The 20 to 33 mm long tepals are composed of 3 petals and 3 petal-like

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s. ''E. americanum'' does not flower for the first 4 to 7 years of its life. In any given colony, only 0.5% will have flowers. Trout lilies bloom in early spring before the trees growing above them develop leaves. Blooming at this time allows them unobstructed access to sunlight and time to grow when soil nutrient levels are high. The flowers close at night.

Leaves

Non-flowering plants grow a single leaf whereas flowering plants grow 2 basal leaves. The 8 to 23 centimeters long yellow trout lily leaves grow in the spring and range from elliptic to lanceolate leaves, the leaves may be mottled with gray to purple and have entire

leaf margin A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

Fruit and sexual reproduction

''Erythronium americanum'' does not reproduce very effectively via sexual reproduction with only 10% of pollinated flowers developing seeds. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a 12 to 15 mm long capsule that is held off the ground by the flower stalk. ''E. americanum'' is a myrmecochorous plant, meaning that ants help disperse the seeds and reduce seed predation. To make the seeds more appealing to ants they have an

elaiosome Elaiosomes ( grc, ἔλαιον ''élaion'' "oil" + ''sóma'' "body") are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. The elaiosome is rich in lipids and proteins, and may be variously shaped. Many plants have elaio ...

which is a structure that attracts ants.

Bulb and asexual reproduction

A trout lily grows from a 15 to 28 mm oval underground bulb. The bulb is often located in the upper 11 cm of soil although it may be as deep as 30 cm. The bulbs of ''E. americanum'' are buried very deeply compared to other lily family plants. The bulbs are mostly composed of storage tissue containing large amounts of energy rich starch. The bulb is covered by a papery husk which is the remains of the previous year's stalk. Trout lilies grow in colonies, some of which have been dated to be up to 300 years old. The individuals within a colony will often reproduce asexually via a "dropper" or from small bulbs budding off of the main bulb. A dropper is a tubular fleshy stem that grows out from a parent bulb, up toward the surface and then penetrates deep into the soil where another bulb is formed from the tip of the dropper. The stem connecting the daughter and parent bulb then dies.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies, ''Erythronium americanum'' subsp. ''americanum'' and ''Erythronium americanum'' subsp. ''harperi''. The ''americanum'' subspecies is a distributed more northerly and the ''harperi'' subspecies only occurs in the south, from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

. The subspecies differ in the shape of the capsule and stigma, with ''E. americanum'' subsp. ''americanum'' having a capsule with a rounded, truncate, or short-apiculate tip and erect stigma lobes without groves. ''E. americanum'' subsp. ''harperi'' has a distinctly apiculate capsule apex and stigma lobes which are both grooved and recurved. Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum).jpg Trout lily Erythronium americanum im.JPG Trout lily dropper.jpg, A dropper coming from a bulb Erythronium americanum; Yellow Trout Lily.jpg

References

External links

Canada Wildlife Federation: Wild about Flowers "Erythronium americanum -- Trout lily"
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q159580 americanum Ephemeral plants Flora of Eastern North America Plants described in 1808 Garden plants of North America