wake-robin

American  

[weyk-rob-in] / ˈweɪkˌrɒb ɪn /

noun

1. the cuckoopint.

2. any of various plants belonging to the genus Trillium, native to eastern North America, of the lily family, as T. erectum, having rank-smelling purple, yellow, or white flowers.

---

wake-robin British  

noun

1. any of various North American herbaceous plants of the genus Trillium, such as T. grandiflorum, having a whorl of three leaves and three-petalled solitary flowers: family Trilliaceae

2. any of various aroid plants, esp the cuckoopint

---

Etymology

Origin of wake-robin

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

The dandelion tells me when to look for the swallow, the dogtooth violet when to expect the wood-thrush, and when I have found the wake-robin in bloom I know the season is fairly inaugurated.

From Wake-Robin by Burroughs, John

You will know where to find the yellow violet, and the wake-robin, and the pink lady-slipper, and the scarlet sage, and the fringed gentian.

From The Blue Flower by Van Dyke, Henry

At the same time, perhaps a day or two earlier, the white oblong petals of the dwarf trillium, or wake-robin, will gleam in the rich woods.

From Some Winter Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John

Our wake-robin so closely resembles T. grandiflorum, Salisb., of the Eastern States, that it seems a pity it should have been made into a different species.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

There was a delicious odor of sweet-shrub in the air, and the fruity fragrance of the dark, wild wake-robin underfoot.

From The Mountain Girl by Erskine, Payne