I almost missed these plants altogether. Another couple of weeks and they would have lost their flowers and the leaves would have been overgrown by neighboring plants. Eastern trout lilies are low-growing plants that form colonies of plants of different ages. The leaves have the characteristic mottling that give the plant its name – although I am not quite sure which trout would be a good match – the leaf is pretty but it’s no rainbow… A yellow flower sits atop a solitary stem and droops towards the ground. Its petals curl upwards, revealing the bright yellow of the inner petals.
Thanks to Chris who alerted me of a wrong picture, the above is trout lily from May 2024. The blooms are beautiful, but there are many more spotted leaves that have not (or not yet?) produced a flower.
The original post had a picture of Erythronium pagoda, a western US hybrid species that likely came with gifted rootstock. This plant is also doing very well still in the woodland garden
There are a couple of different ways to enjoy the trout lily as a culinary treat (* don’t harvest these in the wild, introduce them into your own garden and wait for them to multiply which they will!):
- Steamed lily leaves – Steam dabbled leaves in steamer, over boiling water, for 2 minutes.
- Young leaves are delicious eaten raw.
- You can gather the roots (just before the flower open) – the root bulb can be chopped and sprinkled raw over a salad.
- The actual flowers can be eaten raw or added to a salad.
| Scientific name: | Erythronium americanum |
| Common name: | eastern trout lily |
| Other name: | dog’s-tooth violet, trout lily, yellow snowdrop, adder’s tongue |
| Bloom time: | mid spring |
| Color: | bright yellow |
| Light requirements: | light shade to full shade |
| Zone: | 3 to 9 |
| Soil: | mildly acidic to mildly alkaline |
| Water: | moist |
| Origin: | eastern North America |
This photo seems incorrect. Trout lilies have a spotted multicolor look like trout skin. There is usually only one flower and few leaves. The flower is downward-facing with no flare.
Hi Chris – you are correct! This is actually Erythronium pagoda, which is a cross between E. tuolumnense and E. californicum, both of which are of western US origin. I was gifted some rootstock and now the Erythronium are everywhere intermixed throughout the garden. I will update the picture with the actual trout lily that is blooming right this minute actually. I have hundreds of trout lily leaves sprouting everwhere that may or may not become flowering specimens in the next few years.