![trout lily trout lily](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46793468415_1d94f23418.jpg)
The flower is typically yellow on the inside and bronze on the outside. As it flowers, the plant produces a single 5 to 8-inch bronze-colored stalk with a nodding bloom on end. The small Trout Lily starts its life cycle with one to two mottled leaves that sprout from the leaf litter.
![trout lily trout lily](https://live.staticflickr.com/5181/5693470091_5e9abcc807_b.jpg)
Trout Lily’s leaves and flowers spring from the ground, bloom, and die before the trees of the forest leaf out. One of the first to emerge is the spring-ephemeral (short-lived) Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum). Retrieved 14 June 2016.The tiny Trout Lilly is one of Georgia’s many unique native plant species.Īs temperatures begin to warm and spring approaches, the first of the woodland plants begin to peek above the leaf litter. Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. "Erythronium americanum: Yellow-flowered Dog's-tooth-violet". "Consequences of the Timing of Seed Release of Erythronium americanum (Liliaceae), a Deciduous Forest Myrmecochore" (PDF).
#Trout lily archive
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved 14 June 2016 – via, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). harperi has a distinctly apiculate capsule apex and stigma lobes which are both grooved and recurved. americanum having a capsule with a rounded, truncate, or short-apiculate tip and erect stigma lobes without groves. The subspecies differ in the shape of the capsule and stigma, with E. The americanum subspecies is a distributed more northerly and the harperi subspecies only occurs in the south, from Louisiana to Tennessee and Georgia. americanum and Erythronium americanum subsp.
![trout lily trout lily](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/98/75/ee/9875ee9667c427f34f90b2dbd77cd6bb--raccoons-trout.jpg)
There are two subspecies, Erythronium americanum subsp. The stem connecting the daughter and parent bulb then dies. A dropper is a tubular fleshy stem that grows out from a parent bulb, up toward the surface and then penetrates deep into the soil where another bulb is formed from the tip of the dropper. The individuals within a colony will often reproduce asexually via a "dropper" or from small bulbs budding off of the main bulb. Trout lilies grow in colonies, some of which have been dated to be up to 300 years old. The bulb is covered by a papery husk which is the remains of the previous year's stalk. The bulbs are mostly composed of storage tissue containing large amounts of energy rich starch. americanum are buried very deeply compared to other lily family plants. The bulb is often located in the upper 11 cm of soil although it may be as deep as 30 cm. Bulb and asexual reproduction Ī trout lily grows from a 15 to 28 mm oval underground bulb. To make the seeds more appealing to ants they have an elaiosome which is a structure that attracts ants. americanum is a myrmecochorous plant, meaning that ants help disperse the seeds and reduce seed predation. The fruit is a 12 to 15 mm long capsule that is held off the ground by the flower stalk. Fruit and sexual reproduction Įrythronium americanum does not reproduce very effectively via sexual reproduction with only 10% of pollinated flowers developing seeds. The 8 to 23 centimeters long yellow trout lily leaves grow in the spring and range from elliptic to lanceolate leaves, the leaves may be mottled with gray to purple and have entire leaf margins. Non-flowering plants grow a single leaf whereas flowering plants grow 2 basal leaves. Blooming at this time allows them unobstructed access to sunlight and time to grow when soil nutrient levels are high.
![trout lily trout lily](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1f/af/d8/1fafd873613ddb9d1a0626471b4efe43.jpg)
Trout lilies bloom in early spring before the trees growing above them develop leaves. In any given colony, only 0.5% will have flowers. americanum does not flower for the first 4 to 7 years of its life. The 20 to 33 mm long tepals are composed of 3 petals and 3 petal-like sepals. A yellow trout lily produces an erect flower stalk with a nodding, bisexual flower with 6 recurved, yellow, lanceolote tepals.