Purple Trillium

This is a purple Trillium. I looked it up, and found out it's also called wake-robin. I didn't know that. I tried to capture a fairly representative image of the entire plant in situ rather than do my typical macro image.

This is a cluster of trillium plants growing on a hillside a few feet off the path in Vale Park. It would be easy to walk past these and never notice them, which is probably good for them since picking them can damage the plant to the point where they can die (I didn't know that either.)

This spot is quite shady, with a full canopy overhead (well, it will be full when the leaves all come in!) and well drained. I wonder if the leaf litter helps protect them from the winter's chill?