PubMed · 2026-05-14
Trout lilies and related Erythronium wildflowers have more heavily mottled leaves in shadier forests with greater deer populations, suggesting their distinctive spotted pattern functions as camouflage against leaf litter to deter browsing. A continent-wide study using iNaturalist photos found this pattern holds both across species and within single species along gradients of forest cover and deer density.
Forest-dwelling Erythronium species showed significantly greater leaf mottling than prairie and woodland species, with both mottling roughness and evenness elevated in closed-canopy habitats.
Leaf mottling increased intraspecifically with canopy cover in at least 3 of the 5 species studied, indicating the trait responds to local environmental conditions within a single species.
The relationship between mottling and canopy cover was strongest in areas of high to very high deer abundance, directly linking herbivore pressure to camouflage intensity.
