Ocmulgee trillium, Trillium delicatum

If there is a trillium in the forest, and no one is there to see it, is it there yet? You almost get the feeling they're not, because in science they won't be a recognized species until someone does in fact recognize that plants are different. They then have to publish their description of the discovery, and others have to agree that they have indeed found something new. That all happened for Ocmulgee in 2019, when Schilling, Floden, Lampley, Patrick, and Farmer published their description in Systemic Botany. Ocmulgee is currently known from four or five locations in central Georgia. It seems to be a great risk of being eaten by wild hogs, so at least some of those sites have now been fenced. This image is from Edgewood Gardens, Chester Co PA, 4/21/21. Trillium family, Trilliaceae. Many would say Trillium is in the fly-poison family, Melanthiaceae.