Mayapples
By Ken Moore
Podophyllum peltatum (sounds like: po-dough-FILL-lum pel-TAY-tum), now there’s a plant name that just lingers in your mouth before rolling off your tongue. Throw it into a springtime conversation and you’ll attract immediate attention.
The genus name for mayapple is derived from the Greek and Latin, podos (a foot), and phyllon (a leaf). How a “foot leaf†relates to the mayapple is obscure. Perhaps it refers to how the flat rounded leaves are borne on solidly footed petioles. Personally, whenever I see the leaves hovering above the forest floor I think of a herd of light-footed elephants leaving green footprint impressions.
The species name, peltatum, is more obviously descriptive, referring to the Latin for shield; the flat rounded leaf, sturdily attached to the petiole at the center of its underside, looks a bit like a shield protecting the earth beneath. A peltate leaf is distinctive enough to catch your attention.
The full arrival of springtime for me is the return of great swaths of mayapple leaves in the flood plains and lower forest slopes. Even though some frosty temperatures remain, spring is here!
Any plant sporting two leaves will have a single heavy-textured, cream-colored flower hidden beneath the leaves. The flowers are most easily viewed from your on-the-ground “belly botany†position. In rainy weather, the water-laden flower petals become almost translucent, presenting a study in fragile beauty.
Just now, the flowers are still mostly in bud. They’ll be ready for pollinators in the next week or two. The real joy of anticipation is watching the slow emergence of the mayapple leaves as they emerge like tiny, opening umbrellas above the leaf litter.
You may be able to spot a few timid plants still just emerging. Look for any that have two leaves beginning to emerge and you will discover a flower bud tucked between them. A two-leaved plant is mature and strong enough to spend energy on producing a flower and a fruit. That fruit, the mayapple, will ripen sometime in May.
Ethnobotanist and herbalist Dr. Jim Duke and others say that when fully ripe the fruit is tasty and makes good sauces and jellies. He also adds that the plant is very dangerous. I wouldn’t pick it. The root, stem (petiole), leaf and unripe fruit are highly toxic; I would leave the harvesting to the forest critters!
Like so many poisonous plants, mayapple has an extensive heritage of past and present medicinal and insecticidal use and it has demonstrated potential in cancer research.
Since the plant is rhizomatous, spreading horizontally by underground stems, you will find great undulating patches covering the forest floor like giant green carpets. Infrequently, you may spot a large carpet-like patch extending from a forest edge onto a hillside pasture where livestock have enough sense to step around the poisonous patch.
The official name is perfect for the middle line of a haiku.
Springtime emerging
Podophyllum peltatum
A joy to behold
So go outside and discover the mayapples, and you too can haiku!!!
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