Trout lily at Fall Run Park, Glenshaw, 4 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Easter Day, 5 April 2026

This native lily is blooming on today at Fall Run Park in Glenshaw, PA. I found it yesterday while looking for Louisiana warblers (Parkesia motacilla), whom we heard but never saw.

Trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) grow from 1/2″ to 1″ oval underground corms buried very deeply compared to other lily family plants. I believe the depth is an advantage for those that grow in a flood plain that washes away or fills with silt after a flood. For instance, at Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve.

When you find one trout lily you find many because they grow in colonies, some of which are as much as 300 years old. Individuals within a colony often reproduce asexually from small bulbs budding off of the main corm or via a tubular fleshy stem called a “dropper.”

(*) p.s. Brook trout’s native range is eastern North America but they are so popular for fishing that they have been introduced across the continent. The catch-and-release photo was taken in Wyoming.

Note: Most of this article is paraphrased from the Wikipedia article on trout lily.