White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum)
Photo by Levi Plath
White trout lily is a native perennial in Wisconsin and typically grows four to eight inches tall. It bears a single, nodding flower at the tip of a slender, leafless stalk that can reach eight inches. The bloom has six lance‑elliptic petals up to about an inch and a half long, usually white with a faint purplish tint on the outer surface. Its leaves—lance‑elliptic to oval or egg‑shaped—are three to nine inches long and blue‑green with irregular purplish‑brown mottling. The plant thrives in part shade to full shade in moist deciduous woodlands.
As one of our earliest spring ephemerals, it offers pollen to early‑emerging native bees at a time when few other flowers are open. Its mottled leaves help stabilize moist woodland soil, and mature colonies—often decades in the making—create a living ground layer that supports insects, salamanders, and the cool microclimates they depend on.
Sources:
Minnesota Wildflowers — Erythronium albidum (White Trout Lily)
Illinois Wildflowers — White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum)
Flora of North America — Erythronium albidum
The Morton Arboretum — White Trout Lily