My favorite native woodland plant is the trillium. So, when I overhead Professor John Scott talking about the trillium patches he found in Corban University’s forest, I was anxious to see them.
The trillium is sometimes called the Trinity Flower because its single stem is topped with three leaves and crowned with three sepals and three flower petals. They flourish in the rich moist soil under the canopy of the mixed upland forests.
The trillium has a gentle beauty and isn’t very competitive. Thus, they’re easily overrun by more aggressive species. So, the presence of these delicate natives is an indicator of the health of the forest.
Two of the more common trillium in Oregon’s forests and woodlands are:
Trillium ovatum, also known as the Pacific trillium or western trillium, blooms earlier than other native flowers and is the herald of spring. The pure white flower rests on a stalk that extends about 2 inches above the leaves. The flower blushes pink with age. Don’t we all?
Trillium albidum, also known as the giant white wakerobin or sweet trillium, makes its appearance with the first robins, hence the name. The white flower sits at the center and base of the three leaves.
I’m very fortunate that my workplace – Corban University – has about 80 acres of undeveloped forest and woodland rich with native species. Professor Scott, Corban’s birds and botany specialist and natural historian, lead me to his recent discovery of trillium and fawn lilies on our forested campus. John is also quite adept at recognizing encroaching nonnative plants, such as the Shiny Geranium, that grow prolifically in our woodlands. These invasive plants quickly dominate and smother other wildflowers.
Encroaching Shiny Geranium
John is passionate about the preservation of the native plants and the destruction of the nonnative invasives. A single plant can be easily uprooted. A forest overrun is quite another matter. Pulling it all by hand is an impossible task. It will grow back before it’s all pulled. It could be nuked with a potent herbicide, but that would kill everything.
As we walked, I began to see the forest and the pretty little geranium through his eyes. A light began to dawn and the parable of the Sower came to mind.
Parable: Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.
Interpretation: Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown. Mark 4:7-8, 18-20
Jesus identifies three choking thorns: worry and anxiety, seeking and delighting in wealth, and desires for other things. Sometimes thorns are prettily disguised and appear harmless. Lulled into apathy, they quickly spread and dominate like unchecked sin.
So, what does this all mean right now, even as I write and as you read? What’s the “so what”?
“The only way parables can be understood at the deepest level is for one to dare to become involved in their world, to be willing to risk seeing God with new eyes, and to allow that vision to transform one’s being.”[1]
So, I walk the paths of the forest to really see it. I look for trillium and fawn lilies and see English ivy and Himalayan blackberries. I dare to walk the paths of my life at the deepest level to look through God’s eyes at what’s growing and thriving under the canopy. Is His gentle beauty and life thriving in me or has it been overrun and smothered by invasive thorny worries and desires for things? Have I been wrapped up in achieving, succeeding and accumulating? Are there shiny little sins that have become established in the soil of my life? Hard questions.
God isn’t going to compete for space in my life, but He will eliminate the competition when I turn to Him in repentance. I have to first see them for the choking death they are and give them over to Him to redeem and transform. And He will….every time, again and again…until the Trinity flower rises and blooms from the rich soil of His life in me.
All photos taken by the author in the forest of corban university.
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[1] Garland, David E. (1996). The NIV Application Commentary: Mark. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, p. 165.