![]() Mayapple is often grown as an ornamental in woodland or native plant gardens. Plants will self-seed under ideal growing conditions.įlowers are followed by fruits (L and C) that develop into a fleshy apple containing several seeds. They may also be eaten by box turtles and other wildlife that disperse the seeds. The 1½-2 inch long fruits (but not the seeds) are edible (but bland) when ripe and can be used in jellies or preserves. These green “apples” ripen to a golden color, sometimes tinged with pink or purple, later in the summer. ![]() Pollinated flowers are followed in early summer by fleshy, ovoid to lemon-shaped fruits (a berry) containing several tan seeds. Flowers (R) are often hidden by the leaves (C). The flowers are fragrant, variously described as pleasant to putrid and are visited by bumblebees and other long-tongued bees.įlower bud in the axil of the two leaves (L). ![]() Although the flowers are quite showy, they are short-lived and usually hidden by the leaves. Each flower is 2-3 inches wide, with 6 light green sepals, 6 to 9 waxy petals, and twice as many stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers. The nodding, white to rose-colored flowers appear in April or May. Mayapple senesces to go dormant by mid-summerįlowering stems produce solitary flowers in the axil of the two leaves. Shoot senescence is affected by both the vigor of the rhizome system and environmental conditions (the sunnier the location the earlier it goes dormant). Mayapple often forms large, dense colonies in the wild.Īs with many native spring wildflowers, mayapple emerges in early spring before trees produce leaves and then senesces to go dormant by mid-summer. Only stems with more than one leaf will flower. There are one or two leaves per stem, each up to a foot across. Each smooth, pale green, rounded, palmate leaf has 5-9 shallowly to deeply cut lobes. The leaves remain furled as the stem elongates in the spring, unfolding when the stem nears its full height. The mostly unbranched 12-18 inch tall stems are topped with umbrella-like (peltate) leaves.Įach stem is topped with an umbrella-like (L) palmate leaf with 5-9 lobes (R). The upright stems grow from a shallow, creeping, branched underground rhizome, composed of many thick dark or reddish-brown tubers connected by fleshy fibers and downward spreading roots at the nodes. Podophyllotoxin is an ingredient in prescription drugs. All the parts of the plant, except the fruit, contain podophyllotoxin which is highly toxic if consumed, but was used by Native Americans for a variety of medicinal purposes. This herbaceous perennial typically grows in colonies from a single root in open deciduous forests and shady fields, riverbanks and roadsides. Podophyllum peltatum is the only species in this genus in the barberry family (Berberidaceae). Mayapple is a native woodland plant that is widespread across most of eastern North America south to Texas in zones 3 to 8. Mayapple is a common native plant in deciduous forests.
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