Sometime this month in the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of these highlands’ signature spring plants will ease from the soil … the May apple (Podophyllum peltatum).
Photo above: A May apple in bloom in Southwest Virginia. / Photo credit: Bruce Ingram
After its dark-green, foot-wide umbrella-like leaf (with five to nine leaflets) unfurls itself, soon the single white flower will become a signpost to pollinators looking for a jolt of spring nourishment. Later in the spring, a hard, green apple will appear. And later still, that apple will ripen and turn yellow.
In generations past, those little yellow pingpong ball-size fruits were crucial subsistence foods in these highlands. But are those so-called apples really edible? Mitchell Dech, a farmer and forager from Fayette County, West Virginia, has the answer.
“Every part of the plant is very poisonous except for the soft, yellow, fully ripe fruit,” he says. “But even the seeds of that fully ripe fruit are poisonous and have to be removed before the flesh can be eaten.
“I’ve only eaten the apples raw, and I would describe the taste as something like a pineapple or mango. I seldom find more than a few of the apples at a time, but I’ve heard of people finding enough to make jelly.”
May apples often form colonies in shaded hardwood groves, but I’ve also found them growing along the edges of our driveway in Southwest Virginia. Come mid- to late March, seek this beautiful native plant yourself.
A new edition of Bruce and Elaine Ingram’s book, Living the Locavore Lifestyle is out. For more information: bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.
