This species of perennial woodland trillium has similar features to the large-flowered trillium except that the flower petiole is longer, usually causing the flower to hang down, sometimes but not always below the level of the leaves. The reason for this adaptation is not known. While hiking it is easy to miss this "shy" species of Trillium because the leaves sometimes hide the flower. The white petals sometimes may appear cream-colored or pink, perhaps due to hybridization with the red trillium. The petals may also have wavy edges.

Like other trilliums, it has a single flower with three petals and three green sepals emerging between three whorled leaves that are actually flower bracts. The leaves/bracts are about 6 inches long and have wavy margins. The petals may bend upwards. The drooping trillium blooms in moist woodlands at about the same time as the large-flowered and purple trillium. The fruit is a six-sided reddish berry that can be up to 3 cm in diameter. This berry ripens in midsummer.

This species has been a challenge to identify correctly. The flowers of the drooping trillium are 1.5 to 2 inches wide, a bit smaller than the large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). The flowers I have seen at Raccoon Creek Park in Beaver County (see gallery) have the white anthers, but have a maroon-colored ovary. Sources I have seen have stated that this is a variation found in the drooping trillium. Whether this is also the result of hybridization with the red trillium or not is unclear.

This drooping trillium is found in the United States from Southwestern New York State southwest to northern Alabama and west to Iowa. 

The drooping trillium is often confused with the related nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum) that is formally documented in Butler, Indiana and Westmoreland Counties in Western Pennsylvania. The nodding trillium has a longer flower stalk and the bloom is more often found beneath the leaves. The anthers of the nodding trillium are either pink or purple or lined with that color.  Those of the drooping trillium, are white or yellow. Both species can often be confused with the white color variant of the red trillium (Trillium erectum alba), but the latter seldom has the flowers below the level of the leaves. Oddly enough, the drooping trillium tends to droop less in the southern part of its range.  It is sometimes called the nodding wakerobin or bent trillium. Like other trilliums it has been recently assigned to the family Melanthiaceae rather than to the lily family.