The name "trillium" is from the Latin words "tri" (referring to the fact that the plant has three leaves and the flower has three parts) and "llium" (from the Latin liliaceous, referring to the funnel-shaped flower). The species name (undulatum) is from the Latin word meaning wavy-edged; this is a reference to the fact that the petals have wavy edges.
The plant is also referred to as Painted Lady (not to be confused with the Painted Lady butterfly) and Painted Wakerobin. The latter name reflects the fact that the species blooms about the same time the robins return in the spring.
Painted Trilliums grow eight to 20 inches tall. There is a single whorl of three leaves at the top of the stem. Each bluish-green, waxy leaf is 2½ to five inches long, broadly rounded at the base and tapering to a point.
The single flower appears on the top of the stalk, just above the whorl of three leaves. The flower is usually 2 inches wide. The wavy-edged petals are lance-shaped and have a tapered, pointed tip. The flower is white, with an inverted, deep pink V at the base of each petal. The flower has three green sepals and six pink-tipped stamens. Flowers appear when the plant is 4 to 7 years old or older....It is a very pretty flower. It is easy to understand why it is an indicator species. It is very much alone in it's presentation in many instances. This is a single stalk. it is special to find the flower in bloom. It is needless to say, it is very shade tolerant, although it probably is bathed in sunlight at some time during the daytime as the sun moves across the sky. It is not unusual in a forest to find these plants growing as a solitary individual. If there is a break ever so small in the canopy at some time during the day and the sunlight sends a single beam of light to the forest floor, there will be an individual of some type of plant taking advantage of it.
