General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Partial Shade to Full Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 9b
Plant Height: 3 - 6 inches
Plant Spread: 3 - 6 inches
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Spring ephemeral
Other: Leaves can be cooked as a leaf vegetable.
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
1"-2"
Flower Time: Late winter or early spring
Spring
Underground structures: Bulb
Uses: Groundcover
Vegetable
Will Naturalize
Resistances: Tolerates dry shade
Propagation: Seeds: Stratify seeds: Seeds need alternating periods of warm and cold stratification to germinate
Can handle transplanting
Seeds are hydrophilic
Propagation: Other methods: Stolons and runners
Pollinators: Various insects

Image
Common names
  • White Trout-Lily
  • White Fawn Lily
  • Adder's Tongue
  • White Fawnlily
  • Dogtooth Violet
  • White Troutlily
  • White Dog's-tooth Violet
  • Lamb Tongue
  • Thousand Leaf
  • Spring Lily
  • Trout Lily
  • Deer Tongue

Photo Gallery
Location: Kentucky
Date: 2019-03-28
look at the bee! 🐝
Location: Northeastern, Texas  at the edge of the woods
Date: 2012-02-21
I found this blooming this morning
Location: Dearborn Heights, MI
Date: 2010-04-19
My Plant

Date: c. 1933
illustration by Mary E. Eaton from 'Addisonia', 1933
Location: Kentucky
Date: 2019-03-28
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: March 2011
The little blooms are a harbinger of spring
Location: Kentucky
Date: 2018-04-03
Location: Dearborn Heights, MI
Date: 2010-04-19
My Plant
Location: South Fork, Sangamon River, central Illinois
Date: 2012-03-25
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2017-03-10
Location: Kentucky
Date: 2018-04-03
Location: Northeastern, Texas  at the edge of the woods
Date: 2012-02-21
Closer look at stamens and yellow anthers
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2017-03-10
growing in mass at the forest edge
Location: Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska
Date: 2012-03-27
Location: Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska
Date: 2012-03-27
Photo by SongofJoy
Location: Natural Area in Northeastern Indiana
Date: 2012-03-22
Unopened bloom
Location: IL
Date: 2016-04-23
Taken at local forest preserve.

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.
  • Uploaded by Joy
Comments:
  • Posted by wildflowers (North East Texas - Zone 7b) on Dec 5, 2011 10:42 AM concerning plant:
    The flowers bloom from just mid-March until mid-April. White Trout Lily is a very special woodland plant that usually blooms a little earlier than other spring flowers, although, immature plants that don't bloom always out-number mature plants.. Trout lily bulbs produce just one leaf in the first 6 years, then 2 leaves, a scape-stem, and finally a flower in the 7th year. White Trout Lily can produce large colonies of plants if it is left undisturbed for several decades. Both the flowers and mottled foliage are attractive. The flowers are primarily pollinated by both long-tongued and short-tongued bees; for nectar and pollen.

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