Trillium is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. Trillium species are native to temperate regions of North America and Asia, with the greatest diversity of species found in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.

What does Wake Robin mean?

Definitions of wake-robin. any liliaceous plant of the genus Trillium having a whorl of three leaves at the top of the stem with a single three-petaled flower. synonyms: trillium, wood lily.

Why is trillium called Wake Robin?

The plant takes its common name "wake robin" by analogy with the European robin, which has a red breast heralding spring. Likewise Trillium erectum is a spring ephemeral whose life-cycle is synchronized with that of the forests in which it lives.