Rare Find in the Woods

Can't go to the movies, can't go out to eat, can't visit my friends or hug my grandkids or go to church, but I can still go for a walk in the woods, as long as I walk alone. And what a treat I found in the woods this week: the adorably tiny Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale). 

The native range of this miniature trillium species does not extend into New York State, but a naturalist planted some in her own woods many years ago, and they have continued to persist and even thrive. This very early bloomer lives up to its name by daring to bloom very early, sometimes while snow still lies deep in the shady hollows of the woods. 

Don't ask me to tell you where I go to visit this beautiful little flower. The site could be the only place it grows in all of New York State, although it is known to carpet the woodlands in states further south and west.  Many, many fewer specimens grow at this location.  Sadly, I have caught poachers illegally digging up other plants from this woods, so I am grateful the Snow Trillium population here has as yet remained intact.