Despite its name, the fruit, which looks more like a yellowish-green, egg-shaped berry than an apple, usually does not begin to develop until early to mid-summer.
Photo Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) can make its appearance as early as March, about the same time bloodroot is blooming. Wrapped tightly around the stem when the plant is pushing its way out of the ground, the umbrella-like leaves soon open up to form huge carpets spreading out across much of the forest floor.
In the past this plant was used as a treatment for warts, but even today chemicals found in mayapple are used for medicinal purposes—podophyllin is used as a purgative and, along with peltatin, has been employed for the treatment of cancer and venereal disorders. Researchers have found that the latter substance affects DNA and RNA synthesis and discourages the growth of cells.
Despite its name, the fruit, which looks more like a yellowish-green, egg-shaped berry than an apple, usually does not begin to develop until early to midsummer. Many people think it has a disagreeable odor when it first appears, but its scent becomes more pleasant as it ripens.
Comments from those who have eaten the fruit range from “like a sweet lemon” to “tasteless” to “nauseating.” Euell Gibbons, an advocate of natural diets in the 1960s, felt that a bit of mayapple juice squeezed into lemonade improved the drink’s flavor, and some hikers have been known to use the juice to help mask the taste of iodine-purified water. Just be careful if you decide to do so; the apple is known to be a strong (and quick-acting!) laxative, and other parts of the plant contain a toxic poison that American Indians are said to have used to commit suicide.
Flower Fast Facts
FLOWER: A single, waxy, nodding, white flower grows from the middle of the fork of two leaves. About 1 inch in size, the flower has more than a dozen stamens with yellow anthers that emerge from the center of six to nine petals.
LEAVES AND STEM: Rising in height to about 1 foot, the two umbrella-like toothed leaves are divided into five to seven lobes. Plants with only one leaf do not bear flowers.
BLOOM SEASON: April-June
About This Series
“Mountain Wildflowers” features a wildflower from the Blue Ridge region each month from March to October. Leonard M. Adkins has written for Blue Ridge Country for more than two decades and is the author of 20 books about travel, hiking and nature. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail, which received the prestigious National Outdoor Book Award, provides the photographs and some of the information he writes about in each “Mountain Wildflowers.” It and his other works may be obtained through his website.
