Podophyllum peltatum

Mayapple

[ click on any image below to see larger version ]

Family: Berberidaceae (Barberry family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: March - May
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: May - July

Mayapple gets its common name because the flowers appear around May, and the fruit (which forms later) looks somwhat like an apple. Plants with only one leaf will not bloom; only those with two leaves produce a flower and subsequent fruit.

All the parts of Mayapple, except the fruit, are poisonous. The fruit resembles a green apple and can cause unpleasant indigestion if eaten, even though purportedly it's not dangerously poisonous.

Mayapple is often infected with Mayapple Rust, a fungal parasite that forms tiny bright orange cups on the underside of leaves.

23 April 2020 Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA	13 April 2015 Sky Meadows State Park, Paris, VA (emerging plant with leaves folded)	15 April 2015 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	27 March 2024 Conway Robinson State Forest, Gainesville, VA
8 May 2018 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Sharpsburg, MD	18 April 2016 Monticello Park, Alexandria, VA	10 May 2018 G. R. Thompson Wildlife Management Area, Linden, VA	23 April 2020 Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
26 April 2024 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	16 June 2023 Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA (ripening fruit)	25 April 2025 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (Mayapple Rust seen from top of leaf)	25 April 2025 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (Mayapple Rust on leaf underside)

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