They are the queens of spring. From mid-April to the end of May, seeing these big, bold white flowers is one of the best reasons to take a walk in our Ontario woods.

But beware; they’re also the most reliable signal that the blackflies are out. In fact, as barometers of woodland biology, a lot of scientists are paying close attention to our provincial flower these days.

This is because the trillium, despite its unassuming appearance, has a very unique biology. If there’s one plant that could be called persnickety, trilliums are it. Seeds take at least two years to germinate, then the plant takes between seven and seventeen years to flower. (In our urban gardens, where instant gratification rules, it’s a gutsy gardener who tries to cultivate the trillium.)

Trilliums are also on a list of plants being studied to measure global warming. Botanists know that the plant breaks ground, not in response to sunlight like most flora, but in direct response to soil temperature: 6.7 degrees Celsius to be precise. Studies indicate that trilliums may be flowering as much as fourteen days earlier than half a century ago.

Another study of trillium populations helped environmentalists understand the harm done to the ecological balance by allowing deer to overpopulate. When trilliums were reduced by overgrazing, bumble bee’s also declined dramatically. It seems the trip through the woods wasn’t worth it without the big drifts of trilliums providing the fuel for flight with their pollen. This meant reduced pollination and reproduction of hundreds of other woodland plants as well. Another reminder that balance is everything in life.

Being an early spring flower puts pressure on the trillium to use its energy as efficiently as possible. This flower has a lot of work to do in a very short time: a matter of weeks to absorb the spring sunlight before the trees spread their leaves and form the canopy overhead.

As it stirs under the late winter snow, growth energy is coming entirely from its carbohydrate reserves stored in its roots. Stockpiles are built by the three leaves below the bloom. This is why picking trilliums is lethal for the plant — the energy supply is cut off and they die.

In fact it’s actually a myth that it’s illegal to pick trilliums in Ontario, there is no such law on the books. But the reality is that picking them kills the plant.

One benefit of being a hard-working trillium is their seeds are spread for them by ants and mice. Shortly after the bloom falls away, they produce dark red berries that contain a small seed. Mice eat the berry and poop out the seed. Ants carry the berries home to share their meal, placing the seeds on their garbage heap when their done. Both provide a ready-made, nutrient-rich compost heap to help the seeds germinate in a couple of years.

If one plant symbolized the interconnectedness of everything in the natural world, trilliums are it. This is the poster plant for “Don’t mess with Mother Nature.” Next spring, when you come across a healthy drift of this familiar white flower, you’ll know that all is well in the woods where you walk.

And should you ever come across them in an urban garden, you’ll know that homeowner has more patience and dedication than the rest of us could ever hope for.