Trillium albidum

Giant white wakerobin

Family: Melanthiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Giant white wakerobin is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, and San Francisco Bay Area in redwood and mixed-evergreen forests, coastal scrub, and chaparral at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers with occasionally purple bases, 4 to 8 centimeters long, with an attractive sweet rose-like or spicy fragrance. Growing 20 to 60 centimeters tall with green stems, it features distinctive large leaves that are sessile, rounded to obtuse at the tip, and often subtly spotted in brown or green. Its broad leaves measure 7 to 20 centimeters long and 12 to 15 centimeters wide, creating a dramatic appearance in forest understories. The fruit is pulpy and juicy, ranging in color from green to purplish green.

Habitat: Common. Edges of redwood or mixed-evergreen forest, coastal scrub, chaparral, moist canyon slopes, ravine banks

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n SN, SnFrB

California counties: Butte, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, Shasta, Sonoma, Lake, Glenn, Napa, Marin, Nevada, Placer, San Francisco, Tehama, Plumas, Yuba, Del Norte, San Mateo, Colusa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.