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From spring through fall wildflowers can be found all over Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A favorite of many is the white fringed phacelia, which covers the hillsides near the Chimneys Picnic Area with its white blooms in April and May.

Another spring bloomer is Jack-in-the-pulpit, also known as Indian turnip, so named because American Indians ate the peppery-tasting turnip. The plant is also called memory root.

The male Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers are thought to be green, with purple hoods distinguishing the females. They can be seen along Smokemont Nature Trail.

A member of the lily family, trillium blooms range from white to deep purple in the spring. Trilliums contain three petals, sepals and leaves each.

Trilliums bloom from April to July, depending on the specific species. They may be found throughout the Smokies, including between Cherokee Orchard and Rainbow Falls near Chimneys Picnic Area and along Pin-Oak, Big Locust, Buckeye and Smokemont nature trails.

The Trillium cernum has white or pink flowers that nod below the leaves.

Trillium vaseyi has the largest flowers of all trilliums. They hang below the leaves and are dark maroon-purple. They are four inches across.

White pendant or pink flowers are found on Trillium catesbaei.

Big, bell-shaped, yellow-centered white flowers, which turn pink with age, signal Trillium grandiflorum. They stand 10 to 15 inches high.

Toadshade, road or sessile trilliums are also called Walkerbins and stinking Benjamins because of their unpleasant smell.

Superstition has it that if you pick a trillium it will rain.

During June and July, three types of flowering shrubs ranging from head high to 15 or 20 feet provide the most outstanding display of wildflowers in the Smokies.

The striking rhododendron spreads a riot of rose-purple color across the Smokies from buds it formed the previous fall.

Mountain laurel with tiny blossoms ranging from white to a rich pink are more apt to be seen in exposed areas. Each tiny blossom, which makes up a larger bloom, resembles an opened umbrella.

Wild azaleas are best known for their flame-colored blooms and are found in widely separated areas, including higher elevations. Gregory's Bald, almost a mile high, is one of the most famous sites for the azaleas. Botanists have reported as many as 21 different shades of blossoms on azaleas growing on Gregory's Bald.

During May, putty root orchid, a true member of the orchid family, blooms. It is also known as Adam and Eve orchid.