The three of everything wildflower

Early April is a good time to go looking for a woodland wildflower called toadshade trillium. The first three letters in the word trillium (tri) means three. This flower knows the number three. Atop a single sturdy stem, the toadshade trillium breaks out with three green, beautifully mottled oblong leaves.

Three greenish/purple sepals are next to open and, as they do, three maroon flower petals emerge, reaching for the sky. Inside the flower, three dark secondary petals and filaments surround the part of the flower that will eventually become the seed.

In order to isolate this American native wildflower, I placed a small thin sheet of aluminum behind the flower. I tilted the aluminum to catch the color of the sky and took this photo.