Remarkable Profusion: Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum, Érythrone d'Amérique

I made a post about Erythronium americanum last year, in which I noted that the plant blooms rarely (due in large part to the fact that it can take an individual seven or eight years to reach sufficient maturity to start blooming [1,2,3]. I happened across some E. americanum colonies in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery and the Mont-Royal park on May 2 which were evidently quite old, mature stands, as they were profusely blooming:

Mature colony of Erythronium americanum

I commented on myrmechory (ant-vector) as a seed dispersal method for E. americanum in the previous post, but did not say much about vegetative propagation. E. americanum actually reproduces more through vegetative than sexual means [3]. The extremely close proximity of the individuals in the colonies, and the fact that the colonies appear to be composed of a single type with respect to pollen morph (E. americanum has two varieties: yellow pollen and red pollen), suggest that within-colony, increases in numbers can be mostly accounted for by vegetative reproduction.

This year, I was able to get some good clear photographs showing the two different pollen morphs which I discussed in the last post:

E. americanum red pollen morph

E. americanum yellow pollen morph

I discuss in my previous post about this flower how this natural variation can be used to test hypotheses about pollen movement in wild settings.

All parts of this plant are edible, but emetic [1,4], so although they can be eaten they will tend to make you puke. If you are going to eat them, please bear in mind when collecting E. americanum the incredible length of time it takes for the plant to reach reproductive maturity and harvest sparingly; do not harvest at all in places where E. americanum is threatened such as Iowa or where its status is unknown such as in Newfoundland & Labrador.

This is a very attractive flower. I managed to get quite a few good photographs that really show the form of E. americanum in all its attractive glory.

E. americanum

E. americanum flower bud

Clump of E. americanum

Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum - Érythrone d'Amérique

Erythronium americanum (trout lily, fr: Érythrone d'Amérique) is a very long-lived forest understory perennial from the family Lilaceae. It is a spring ephemeral (meaning that the plant emerges and senesces before the forest canopy has closed). This plant is most easily identified by its mottled grey and green leaves; each plant produces either one or two of these leaves, which are arranged basally. The flower is yellow, sometimes with red or purple spots toward the inside; there are six tepals, which can be heavily recurved. The flower is slightly nodding, pointing the ground.

E. americanum - all major points of anatomy visible

The above photograph was taken without damaging the plant; I gently bent the flower stalk down and righted it when I was done. These plants rely on a very narrow window of sunlight in the early spring to store energy in the rhizome for growth and blooming the following year, so it is best to damage them as little as possible.

Note that the anthers are of varying lengths and sizes. They look red here because they have not yet opened to expose the pollen (this flower had opened the same morning that I took the photo).

This flower blooms extremely rarely; some estimate that only about 1/60 plants will bloom in a given year. My observation suggests that this number could be lower in some places, such as where I took these photographs at QUBS. The plants take several years to achieve reproductive maturity, and once achieving it will bloom only occasionally.

E. americanum  - note the heavily recurved sepals

This plant is particularly suitable for certain types of pollination studies where one wants to know which individuals are successfully pollinating other individuals. This is because there is a naturally occurring difference in pollen colour in some of these individuals; the general population has yellow pollen, while occasionally an individual has brown pollen. This allows researchers to take an individual with brown pollen, plant it in amongst individuals with brown pollen, and actually track exactly where the brown individual's pollen ends up going. There are techniques to do this with plants which don't have different flower morphs, but they generally entail putting a fluorescent dye on the pollen and this does somewhat alter its characteristics, eg weight (and is therefore a potential confound).

E. americanum

E. americanum is listed as secure in Canada and secure in most of its US range, except in Iowa where it is threatened.

Trilliums - Trillium spp. - Trilles

Trillium erectum (red trillium, fr: trille rouge) and Trillium grandiflorum (white trillium, fr: trille blanc) are common sights in Quebec and Ontario in the early spring. The Trillium genus is in the Lilaceae family based on genetic evidence, though it used to be listed in a separate family and in spite of the fact that it displays a few characteristics which are slightly odd for the Lilaceae family (eg distinct sepals).

All Trillium spp. are myrmecochorous (see yesterday's post for discussion of myrmecochory), spring ephemeral, herbaceous perennials with thick rhizomes, and also display the distinctive sets of three in their morphology which make the trilliums so recognizable. There is a popular theory that Trillium spp. seeds have been dispersed wide distances (post-glacial expansion) by deer herbivory; I would comment only that deer herbivory and myrmecochory shouldn't generally go hand-in-hand as dispersal mechanisms, as myrmecochory is metabolically expensive and we would expect an advantage to the loss of this dispersal system if an alternative were available to the plant.

T. grandiflorum is the provincial flower of Ontario. It is primarily bee-pollinated and its seeds ant-dispersed.

T. grandiflorum in Gatineau Park

In Quebec at least, T. grandiflorum appears to form these vast colonies of thousands upon thousands of individuals. This photo shows a carpet of the flowers extending as far as one can see. In spite of a certain amount of concern over habitat losses and commercial collection for gardening, this species is listed as secure in Canada. Note, however, that it is listed as endangered or vulnerable in the US.

T. grandiflorum - with distinctive sets of 3 (leaves, sepals, petals)

T. grandiflorum flower

T. erectum, unlike T. grandiflorum, is not bee-pollinated. Instead, it is fly-pollinated. This is why it has a distinctly unpleasant odour (usually likened to wet dog); this odour attracts the flies which pollinate the species.

T. erectum flower with distinctive sets of 3

T. erectum is listed as secure in Canada, but, like T. grandiflorum, is listed as endangered, vulnerable, or threatened in the US.

T. erectum flower

I've always had a particular fondness for the red trillium, which is the only one of these two which grows at the lake (the property doesn't have any suitable places for T. grandiflorum)

T. erectum