Trilliums are an easy bunch of flowers to identify and remember. Like its brethren, red trillium is named for the color (red! and sometimes deepening to purple) of its flower and its proclivity for threes (three petals, three leaves). Red trillium is one of the most common eastern trilliums, but it’s not always so simple to identify. Confusingly, red trillium can sometimes display as pure white — but can be distinguished from white trillium (T. grandiflorum) by flower shape, size, plant height, and the fact that white trillium doesn’t smell as bad. Another of red trillium’s common names is stinking benjamin, due to its “wet dog” smell that attracts carrion flies for pollination. According to the US Forest Service, the root was traditionally used as an aid in childbirth, hence the name “bethroot” (a corruption of “birth root”). Native Americans used root tea for menstrual disorders, to induce childbirth, and to aid in labor. The whole plant was made into a poultice used to treat tumors, inflammation, and ulcers.