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The Trout Lily, also known as Fawn Lily, Adder’s Tongue Lily, Yellow Snowdrop, and Dog-Tooth Lily, is identified by its mottled leaves that resemble the skin pattern of a Brook trout. This attractive plant, consisting of six nodding yellow petals (that are really three petals) and three lance-shaped sepals, is one of the most adapted wildflowers of the hardwood forests of the Algonquin Highlands. The Trout Lily is found in colonies, near low, rich woods, along streams, and wooded slopes in the spring, then disappear shortly after flowering by early June. Very few of the Trout Lily actually produce seeds, but instead they continue to colonize large areas of the forest floor by budding from older bulbs. This can be identified by the identical patterns found on the leaves of this species throughout an area.
It is believed that the leaves were once eaten, either raw or cooked, as a contraceptive, and an antibiotic to heal ulcers.
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