Frederick W. Case, Jr. and Roberta B. Case. Trilliums. Timber Press. 1997.

This is an outstanding book on a single plant species. I always look for certain characteristics in single-species books and this one has them all! The book begins with a good overview of Trilliums including a discussion of the history of their name, growing ranges, and relatives. The Cases' provide a good discussion of the plant structures including the rhizomes, flowers, fruit and seeds. This is followed by a discussion of Trillium biology including seed germination, growth, mutations and abnormalities that occur as well as natural hybrids occurring between species. One of the interesting facts presented here is that scientists are not positive about what insect(s) pollinates Trillium. Bees, carrion flies and others have been observed visiting the blooms without actually seeing that they carry pollen to the next plant they visit. Their answer to what pollinates Trilliums is that they don't know for sure! This may well be a good topic for an "amateur" gardener to investigate and possibly make a significant contribution to our knowlege about Trilliums.

The next section, called Horticulture of Trilliums, discusses their cultivation, propagation, diseases and pests, and the hybridization process. In the section on Conservation of Trilliums, the Cases discuss various threats to North American Trilliums. These threats include, wild digging, animals grazing, and current lumbering practices which destroy Trillium habitats. I've often seen Trilliums in catalogs and know now that many of these were dug from the wild which is simply put, poor conservation. One of the problems is that Trilliums take several years to grow from seed making it a slow and expensive nursery crop. Another problem is that they do not do well in tissue culture because of natural fungi which invade the rhizomes in the wild. This fungi grows faster than the Trillium under tissue culture conditions. I hope the professionals find a way to speed up Trillium production so that natural populations can be sustained rather than disappearing from the pressure of plant collectors.

Part II of this book provides a complete discussion of using identification keys followed by keys for North American Trilliums. The authors provide exquisite colored photographs, a detailed description, and maps for each species they discuss. Cases do the same for the Asian species of Trillium. This makes the book an invaluable aid to every gardener because they make no assumptions about our "botanical" knowledge. Although providing scientific information, the book is written in an easy to understand language--something I have really grown to appreciate among the hundreds of books dealing with single plant genuses.