Mayapple
Podophyllum peltatum
Paired umbrella leaves push up through the spring litter and spread into broad colonies, each forked stem hiding a single waxy white flower beneath. The ripe golden fruit is edible and mild, but everything else — leaves, stems and especially the root — is severely poisonous, and the fruit itself is toxic until fully soft.
- Family
- Berberidaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 1–1.5 ft
- Spacing
- 0.75–1 ft apart
- Light
- part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic
- Bloom
- March, April, May
- Bloom colors
- white, pink
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, mammals
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV