Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Mayapple is a native, erect perennial with an aerial stem rising from 1 to 1.5 feet with a large leaf on top which is the only thing you will usually see when viewing the plant.

Leaves: Plants produce a single one-leaved non-flowering shoot per year or a single flowering shoot with two leaves. Leaves are deeply palmately arranged with 5 to 7 parts and each part can have two lobes with coarse teeth. These appear rubbery when young. Leaves and stalks are smooth, with hair only along the veins on the underside of the leaf - stalks and leaves die down in mid-summer. The leaf of a non-flowering plant is a circular shield shape with the stalk attached right in the middle. Flowering plants with two leaves, have the leaves on short stalks at the top of the aerial stem with the stalk attached at the leaf margin making the leaf more kidney shaped. The leaves of two-leaf plants are nearly opposite each other and are slightly unequal in size.

The inflorescence is a single nodding flower rising on a stalk from the axil of the two leaves and held beneath them.

Flowers: The flower is from 1 to 2 inches wide and may have 6 to 9 white to pinkish (rarely) petals, and 6 pale green sepals which can detach from the flower early. Petals have rounded tips which is the point where they are the widest, then narrowing to the base. The number of stamens is twice the number of petals. These have yellow anthers, longitudinally attached to the filaments and rise from the base of a large yellow-green cylindrical to ovoid ovary which has a single style; overall, the flower has a waxy appearance.

Fruit: A small apple-like fruit forms in summer, green initially, turning yellow, that contains 30 to 50 small ovoid seeds. The seeds, leaves, rhizomes and unripe fruit are poisonous; the ripe apple is considered edible raw, considered sweet but slightly acid, better when cooked, but some persons still find it slightly toxic. An allergic reaction from handling the rhizomes can occur in some people sensitive to the compound Podophyllin found in the roots.

Habitat: Mayapple grows from a rhizomatous root system consisting of many thick tubers which increment annually, fastened together with strong fleshy fibers. Once planted, it will multiply, but not invasively. Mayapple requires moist soil with partial sun, usually found in a woodland setting beneath a tall tree canopy. At Eloise Butler it is found in the far corner of the wetland and near the Martha Crone Shelter in the Woodland Garden. Propagation is best done by root division in the spring just before the roots start new growth.

Names: Both genus and species names refer to the leaf shape. The genus name, Podophyllum is derived from two Greek words - podos, meaning 'foot' and phyllon, meaning 'leaf' referring to the leaf structure with parts and lobes, somewhat resembling a foot. The species name, peltatum, refers to the leaf with its round shield-like shape. The author name for the plant classification, 'L.,' is for Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy.

Comparisons: No other plant resembles this one. It is the only member of the genus in North America and the genus contains only one other species outside North America.