Even without this law, trilliums have been protected unofficially by the folk belief that if you pick the bloom, the plant will not flower for seven years. This belief exaggerates the impact of picking the flower, but removing the stem and food-making leaves will set the plant back. Trilliums will however readily grow in your garden so there is no need to take them from the wild. The rhizome wanders horizontally below ground but turns up at the tips.
Old stems leave behind scars along the rhizome.
Three large, broadly-rounded leaves, top the stem providing a lush green foil for the solitary flower. The fragrant flower has three long narrow sepals alternating with three broad white petals. As the flower ages, petals turn pink or even purple. May. The fruit is a winged greenish capsule with numerous seeds. Western trillium inhabits lowlands and mountain slopes in much of extreme southern British Columbia, except in the hot dry climates of the Interior.