Trillium sessile

Trillium sessile is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. The specific epithet sessile means "attached without a distinct stalk", an apparent reference to its stalkless flower. It is commonly known as toadshade (not to be confused with Trillium recurvatum, which is also known by that name) or toad trillium. It is also called sessile trillium or sessile-flowered wake-robin, however it is not the only member of the genus with a sessile flower.

Trillium sessile is endemic to the eastern half of the United States. It has the widest range of any species of sessile-flowered trillium. There are two subpopulations geographically separated by a large gap in central Illinois where the species is strangely absent.

Trillium sessile was one of three Trillium species described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is a small perennial, herbaceous plant with three leaves, but unlike other sessile-flowered trilliums, the leaves are often not mottled. It has a single trimerous flower with three reddish-purple petals and six distinctive stamens that aid identification.