Trillium sessile 3qt (Toadshade Trillium)

Toadshade Trillium is a lovely native woodland wildflower with three bold, rounded leaves which appear strongly mottled upon emergence, but fade to nearly solid green as they mature. The maroon flower sits directly atop the whorl of leaves without a flower stalk, giving this species its Latin name. The sepals are ascending and held above the leaves, whereas the very similar looking species Trillium recurvatum has recurved sepals which occur below the leaves and hug the stem. Both species will go summer dormant after setting seed.

The seeds of Toadshade Trilliums will spread around, often a good distance from the mother plants, with a lot of help from ants! The ants gather the freshly ejected seeds and carry them back to their nests to eat the fleshy appendage attached to the seed coat (called elaiosomes.) The undamaged seeds are then discarded in their midden heaps, which are a perfectly rich and protected substrate for the seeds to germinate in. This mutualistic interaction helps many spring ephemerals to spread around the landscape, since most of their seeds are too heavy for wind transport and unviable if they get desiccated.

Sources:
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers by William Cullina
Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Allan M. Armitage
Missouri Botanical Garden
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Illinois Wildflowers
The Morton Arboretum-Black Walnut Tolerance