Toadshade, Trillium sessile, is a beautiful spring flower that is both edible and medicinal. The leaves taste like raw sunflower seeds. It has been used medicinally by the Wailaki and Yuki Indians as a dermatological aid, as a panacea (cure-all) and to prevent sleep.

Toadshade Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 568

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 124-125

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 96-97, 146-147

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.