Medicinal Monday...Wake-Robin

Great White Trillium is one of the most showy spring flowers with large white blossoms up to three inches long. The plant is native to eastern North America and parts of Canada and was used medicinally by many Native American communities. It is Ontario's official flower and is often referred to as the birth root because of its medicinal qualities.

About Great White Trillium

Most trilliums are native to the woodlands of North America where they cluster together making a beautiful understory in the forest. In the spring the cup-shaped blossoms are bright white and change to a soft pink and are surrounded by solid green leaves with deep veins that radiate from the base of the leaf. Leaves, petals, and sepals all come in groups of three. The petals have wavy edges and in the center have several yellow stamens. Each plant has a single flower at the end of its stalk. Flowers give way to berry-like capsules. In the summer, this plant goes dormant along with other shade-loving perennials, only to reappear the following spring. The Great White Trillium is a long-lived but slowly maturing perennial. Its seeds are usually spread by ants, which take their fruit underground to eat, leaving the seed behind.

Medicinal & Culinary Uses

One of the most common uses of this plant among many Native American tribes was to use the root to facilitate childbirth. Tea made from the roots was given to mothers after childbirth to stop bleeding. It was considered to be a sacred female herb and only spoken of to the medicine woman.  The Chippewa made a decoction of the roots and applied the mixture to aching joints and dropped it in sore ears. The Menominee prescribed the root for menstrual cramps. The Menominee also made a poultice of the root and applied it to eye swellings and took it as a diuretic. The young leaves were cooked and eaten by some Native Americans and are said to taste like sunflower seeds.

Did You Know...

The seed of the Great White Trillium has an appendage called an elaiosome that is very sweet and attracts ants, who take the seed back to their nest, eat the flesh, and discard the seed. 

Seeds that are dispersed by ants are called myrmecochory.

White-tailed deer eat the foliage and flowers of the white trillium.

The flower's common name is Wake-Robin, which was the title of American naturalist and essayist John Burrough's first essay collection, Wake-Robin.

The Great White Trillium is an official symbol of Ontario and the state wildflower of Ohio.