Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit:	Herb/Forb
Life cycle:	Perennial
Sun Requirements:	Partial Shade to Full Shade
Water Preferences:	Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness:	Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone:	Zone 8b
Plant Height:	12 to 18 inches
Plant Spread:	9 to 12 inches
Leaves:	Unusual foliage color Other: Dormant in summer.
Fruit:	Showy
Flowers:	Showy
Flower Color:	White
Flower Time:	Spring
Underground structures:	Rhizome
Uses:	Will Naturalize
Edible Parts:	Fruit
Toxicity:	Leaves are poisonous Roots are poisonous

Common names

Mayapple
Ground Lemon
Puck's Foot
Indian Apple
Wild Mandrake

Photo Gallery

Location: zone 5 Indiana
Date: 2021-04-15

Uploaded by gardengus

Uploaded by bumplbea

Location: Western North Carolina
Date: 2015-04-14

Uploaded by vic

Location: Apple Valley MN
Date: 2023-05-24

Uploaded by crawgarden

Uploaded by bumplbea

Uploaded by bumplbea

Uploaded by Legalily

Location: Bea’s garden
Date: 2023-09-21
Sport from Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum 2023

Uploaded by bumplbea

Uploaded by dryad

Location: Amana Colonies Iowa
Date: May 2011
A lovely early spring wildflower

Uploaded by Sharon

Location: Maine
Date: 2022-05-27
Looking underneath the leaves

Uploaded by pixie62560

Location: Fairfax, VA
Four lobes... good luck?

Uploaded by sedumzz

Location: my garden in Dawsonville, GA (zone 7b north Geogia mountains)
Date: 2016-04-09

Uploaded by LoriMT

Uploaded by Legalily

Uploaded by bumplbea

Location: my Zone 7b garden in North Georgia Mountains
Date: 2023-04-21

Uploaded by LoriMT

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by LoriMT

Uploaded by lauribob

Location: Keystone State Park, PA
Date: May 2019

Uploaded by JHeirloomSeeds

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2022-05-30
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) flower.

Uploaded by janelp_lee

Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-04-22
First sign of re-emergence, late April

Uploaded by plantrob

Location: Duff Park, Monroeville PA
Date: 2006-05-04

Uploaded by critterologist

Uploaded by pixie62560

Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Date: 2022-04-16

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by springcolor

Uploaded by NJBob

Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-06-27

Uploaded by wildflowers

Uploaded by bumplbea

Location: Shawnee State Park PA
Date: 2018-04-21
smaller than my pinkie finger

Uploaded by critterologist

Location: Shawnee State Park PA
Date: 2018-04-21

Uploaded by critterologist

Location: Amana Colonies Iowa
Date: May 2011
Umbrella shaped leaves

Uploaded by Sharon

Location: my front yard
Date: 2009-04-23

Uploaded by doglover

Date: c. 1773
illustration by Georges Ehret from Trew's 'Plantæ selectæ', 177

Uploaded by scvirginia

Uploaded by lauribob

Uploaded by sedumzz

Location: Fairfax, VA | April, 2023
Date: 2023-04-09

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz

Location: Northern New York
Date: 6/28/2020

Uploaded by Flowergate

Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: April
The female plant produces the fruit and is distiguished as having

Uploaded by wildflowers

Uploaded by bumplbea

Location: Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska
Date: 2012-03-27

Uploaded by KentPfeiffer

Location: Vaughan, ON, Canada (Zone 5b)
Date: 2013-05-03

Uploaded by Anne

Location: Lake Bluff, Il
Date: 2012-05-07
May-Apple

Uploaded by Fran

Location: Ingleside. Illinois
Date: 2022-04-25

Uploaded by antsinmypants

Uploaded by SongofJoy

Courtesy Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek

Uploaded by vic

Uploaded by SongofJoy

Uploaded by springcolor

Uploaded by admin

Location: Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2011-06-06

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz

Location: Houston
Date: 2014-05-22
Mercer Botanical Garden Houston, Tx

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Natural Area in Northeastern Indiana - Zone 5b
Date: 2012-03-29

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by NJBob

Location: Jacksonville, TX
Date: 2012-03-16

Uploaded by dave

Uploaded by JHeirloomSeeds

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission

Uploaded by Joy

Location: Shaded area of hardwoods. Each single leaf produces one small white flower just under the leaf at the stem.
Date: 2018-06-14
The deer will forage this plant before any other in the vicinity.

Uploaded by FirnGully

Location: my front yard
Date: 2009-04-11

Uploaded by doglover

Uploaded by Legalily

Uploaded by antsinmypants

Uploaded by dryad

Location: West shade garden
Date: May 2015

Uploaded by foraygardengirl

Location: RHS Harlow Carr, Yorkshire, UK
Date: 2021-05-10

Uploaded by kniphofia

Uploaded by foraygardengirl

Uploaded by SongofJoy

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Location: Plymouth Nursery, Plymouth, MI
Date: 2011-05-12

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-04-13
large umbrella-like leaves

Uploaded by wildflowers

Uploaded by JHeirloomSeeds

Uploaded by sedumzz

Location: Northwestern Illinois, along the Mississippi R.
Date: summer '06

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: RHS Harlow Carr, Yorkshire, UK
Date: 2019-05-04

Uploaded by kniphofia

Uploaded by pixie62560

Location: Natural Area in Northeastern Indiana - Zone 5
Date: 2011-09-14

Uploaded by chelle

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.

Uploaded by Joy

Location: West shade garden
Date: June 2015

Uploaded by foraygardengirl

Location: West shade garden
Date: May 2013

Uploaded by foraygardengirl

Uploaded by lauribob

Uploaded by admin

Uploaded by admin

Uploaded by admin

Location: Mercer Botanical Garden Houston, Tx
Date: 2014-05-22

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Lucketts, Loudoun County, Virginia
Date: 2010-04-16

Uploaded by greenthumb99

Uploaded by Joy

Location: Anapodophyllon Canadense, Morini: Ranuncolo peregrino con il fiore bianco Campanulato.(Mayapple from Canada)
Date: 2013-02-13
Catesby, M., The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Ba

Uploaded by admin

Uploaded by Shannon

Uploaded by Shannon

This plant is tagged in:

Comments:

Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Feb 9, 2012 7:14 AM concerning plant:

Mayapple is a common wildflower of good woodland soil throughout the eastern two-thirds of North America. In early spring, solitary stems poke up from the soil like thick fingers. These gradually lengthen and then unfurl exposing two 12" wide, umbrella-like, glossy green leaves, first drooping and protective, then held flat outright. Older plants will have a single large white nodding flower where the two leaf petioles fork. The flowers are hard to see beneath the leaves and are short-lived. Successful pollination results in red berries, which is the apple, in early summer. Then the plant heads back underground until next spring. But while it is up, mayapple will cover quite a bit of ground in time; it's leaves so dense and wide-spreading that it appears as a solid ground cover. (Sunlight Gardens)

Reply to this comment
Posted by mellielong (Lutz, Florida - Zone 9b) on Apr 10, 2015 3:45 PM concerning plant:

"How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana tells us that the flowers of this plant are "unpleasantly odoriferous". The author also notes that the fruit, which ripens in July, has been called "wild lemon" in some areas on account of its shape. She further states that it was valued by the Indians for medicinal purposes. However, she also states that the "leaves and roots are poisonous if taken internally, and are said to have been used as a pot herb, with fatal results." Still, she says an extract from the plant has been used in medicine.

Reply to this comment
Posted by Catmint20906 (PNW WA half hour south of Olympia - Zone 8a) on Aug 25, 2014 6:06 AM concerning plant:

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is a woodland wildflower native to eastern North America. Its white blossoms serve as an important source of nectar for early-emerging bees in the springtime, and it is a larval host plant for the Variegated Fritillary Butterfly. Its flowers give way to a greenish fruit in the summer which can be used to make jellies and preserves. Mayapple spreads by both rhizomes and self-seeding and can form colonies when left to spread. The plant usually goes dormant by midsummer.

Reply to this comment
Posted by Sharon (Calvert City, KY - Zone 7a) on Sep 26, 2011 11:45 PM concerning plant:

The Mayapple was used by the Native Americans and very early herbalists as a medicinal plant, though not internally because the plant is toxic.

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Discussion Threads about this plant

Thread Title	Last Reply	Replies
This is a mayapple by pepper23	Jun 14, 2018 8:21 PM	1

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Podophyllum Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

Podophyllum
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)