Trout Lilies (Erythronium americanum) are a North American native perennial and can be found growing in damp, open woodlands. A member of the Lily family, this edible and medicinal plant is cultivated by seed or transplanting of the corm or bulb in fall. From seed to bloom take up four to seven years and only plants that have two leaves will flower—and then they may not bloom every year! Now that would require more patience than I think possess!
Tiny one inch flowers bloom from March to May and they grow best in a deciduous woodland environment with filtered light in the spring. It is said to get its name from the speckled leaves, which mimic the speckled skin of a trout.
According to Stanwyn G. Shetler, Curator of Botany Emeritus at the National Musem of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution:
“the species spreads not only by seeds but also by offshoot runners from their corms, forming extensive clonal colonies, carpeting the forest. In one study the colonies were found to average nearly 140 years in age and were as old as 1300 years.”
You can read Shetler’s article, first published in the Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society, at this link here.
Learn more about Trout Lilies in this article by Sarah Coulber for the Canadian Wildlife Federation at this link here.
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
Garden Muse 
I saw some blooming today in a friends garden. They were so beautiful. A soft buttery yellow. Thanks for sharing the info.