Erythronium americanum (Trout lily)

Erythronium americanum Ker Gawl.

Trout lily, yellow trout-lily, dogtooth violet

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Liliidae	Includes lilies, orchids, and many others
Order	Liliales	Includes lilies, tulips, trilliums, greenbriars, and others
Family	Liliaceae	Lilly family
Genus	Erythronium	Greek for “red,” for a red-flowered European species
Species	americanum	“From America”

About plant names...

Trout lilies are lilies, not violets; the name “dogtooth violet” is derived from the shape of its bulb. Botanist Carol Gracie relates the story of the odd-seeming name adder’s tongue, which may have come about due to the mottling on the leaves:

...John Burroughs, a nineteenth-century American naturalist and writer, felt that adder’s tongue was an inappropriate name for such a lovely plant and suggested either fawn-lily, for its leaves are spotted like the back of a fawn, or “Still better is the name ‘troutlily,’ which has recently been proposed for this plant. It blooms along the trout streams, and its leaf is as mottled as a trout’s back.” (p. 26)

Identification: These plants often form dense colonies. Leaves are sharp-tipped ovals, some narrow, some wide, curiously mottled with brownish or purplish irregular splotches. They are 3-6" (7.6-15 cm) long. Flowers are yellow inside and bronze, yellowish-brown or yellow outside, nodding, with six petals (technically, tepals). As the flowers mature, their petals bend way back, fully exposing six long brown stamens tipped with six anthers about ½" (1.3 cm) long. The anthers are yellowish brown at first, darkening to deep red-purple.

References:

Gracie, Carol, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History, Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 188

Online References:

Erythronium americanum on Southeastern Flora, the Southeastern U.S. Plant Identification Resource

Erythronium americanum on Missouriplants.com

Erythronium americanum at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Erythronium americanum on Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

Erythronium americanum at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Erythronium americanum on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Erythronium americanum on Wildflowers of the United States

Erythronium americanum on CalPhotos

Erythronium americanum on eFloras

4/23/2016 · Big Tree/Porcupine Trail, Beaver, Hollis, Massachusetts

5/9/2016 · Wonder Brook Park, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk, Maine

4/29/2012 · Gordon and Kathy’s, Prospect, Maine · By J Gordon Williamson

12/12/2020 · Gordon and Kathy’s, Prospect, Maine · By J Gordon Williamson

4/15/1979 · Virginia · By Tim Chandler

5/9/2016 · Wonder Brook Park, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk, Maine

Erythronium americanum description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

12/12/2020 · Gordon and Kathy’s, Prospect, Maine · By J Gordon Williamson

4/29/2012 · Gordon and Kathy’s, Prospect, Maine · By J Gordon Williamson

4/29/2013 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire
≈ 9 × 6" (22 × 14 cm)

5/3/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire
≈ 10 × 7" (25 × 16 cm)

4/23/2016 · Big Tree/Porcupine Trail, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, Massachusetts

The trout lily is surrounded by young Canada mayflowers. · 4/23/2010 · Stan and Connie’s, Falmouth, Maine · By Constance B. Kent

4/23/2016 · Big Tree/Porcupine Trail, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, Massachusetts

12/12/2020 · Gordon and Kathy’s, Prospect, Maine · By J Gordon Williamson

4/15/1979 · Virginia · By Tim Chandler

5/9/2016 · Wonder Brook Park, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk, Maine

Range: Zones 3-8:

About this map...