Monday, January 10, 2011

Enter the Rare Mutant Trillium

On one of my expeditions to photograph wildflowers, I encountered several large colonies of Trillium. While photographing the Trillium, I noticed some odd looking flowers. These flowers were clearly Trillium, but the blooms were multiple layers of three petals, and the blooms were green.
I carefully photographed them, and I think they are very beautiful. I queried some local wildflower folks and was told that they were nothing special, and was then ignored from further discussion. I found this behavior very odd, so I asked a regional biologist if he could look at my images and identify them. He not only knew what they were, he knew where I had taken the photos, and he verified that these Trillium are, indeed, very uncommon. It seems that, occasionally, a colony of Trillium will mutate and produce odd looking blooms. I consider myself honored to have seen these beautiful specimens. For the safety and protection of these colonies, I will not divulge where these Trillium are located.
I hope you like these images.


This is Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis). This is the white version.



Again, this is Dame's Rocket, but this is the violet version.



This wildflower is Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)



This is Star Chickweed (Stellaria corei)



This is Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)



This is a Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)


The beautiful Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)



(Trillium grandiflorum)



Here is one of the mutant Trillium.


Another image of the mutated strain of the Trillium grandiflorum



I think this is my favorite image of the mutated wildflowers. It looks beautiful to me.

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