Late March through early April brings the peak blooming of western trillium (Trillium ovatum) across Pacific Northwest forests, creating carpets of elegant three-petaled white flowers beneath Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and bigleaf maple canopies. These long-lived perennials can take 7-10 years to flower from seed and may live for decades in undisturbed forests. Each flower has three white petals that gradually turn pink as they age, three green sepals, and three leaves in a distinctive whorl. Trillium flowers are pollinated primarily by native bees and beetles, and their seeds are dispersed by ants attracted to nutrient-rich structures called elaiosomes. Look for these woodland treasures in moist, shaded forests from British Columbia to northern California, where they often grow in large colonies. Indigenous peoples used trillium medicinally, though modern foragers should never harvest these slow-growing natives.