Podophyllum peltatun (Mayapple) Berberidaceae

The mayapple is an herbaceous perennial plant native to deciduous forests of eastern North America. It is a very unique plant that has two leaves when it produces a flower under the leaves, and has only one leaf when it does not produce flower.

The mayapple is a spring ephemeral emerging before the canopy of the forest closes and withering later in the summer.

Physical characteristics

The mayapple grows from below the ground to 30–40 cm tall. They reproduce asexually underground so there are usually many plants growing together that are actually one individual. 

Leaf: The leaves are palmately lobed up to 20–30 cm diameter with 5–9 deeply cut lobes. The reproductive plants have 2 or occasionally 3 leaves, and sterile plants only have one leaf. When there is only one leaf, the leaf looks round, and when there are two, the two leaves look like two halves of a round leaf.

 

 

 

Flower: There is one flower maximun on one plant. The flower is white and 3–5 cm diameter with 6–9 petals (most often 6). The stamens are yellow, and there are twice as many stamens as there are petals. The pistil is very thick in the center of the flower with 15–100 ovules. The flower is protandrous, meaning the anthers mature earlier than the stigma. The anthers often dehisce before the flower has opened, and the stigma remains receptive even when the stamens and petals begin to fall from the flower. The flower grows from in between two leaves under the leaves, so it is often not easily seen.

 

Fruits: The fruits are formed from sexual reproduction for distance dispersal. The fruits are yellow-greenish and 2–5 cm long. It is the flower that shows up in May, not the “apple.” The “apple,” which does not look too much like an actual apple, appears later in summer.

Rhizome: The mayapple reproduces sexually and asexually. It grows rhizomes underground, and new plants grow from the thick rhizomes. Asexual reproduction allows dense local population of clones and costs less.

Life span: The mayapple is a perennial plant.

 

 

Toxicity and edibility