Definition of "trillium" [tril•li•um]

• Any of various plants of the genus Trillium, of North America, the Himalaya Mountains, and eastern Asia, usually having a cluster of three leaves and a variously colored, three-petaled flower. Also called birthroot, wake-robin. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "After the purple _trillium_ has done flowering, we have the painted trillium of the woods; the _trillium grandiflorum_ is abundant at Grosse"
• "We also explained how unique and perfect the trillium was and, of course, that it was our flower."
• "Some brought handfuls of columbine from rocky nooks, and others the purple trillium, that is near of kin to Burroughs's white"