Podophyllum
| Mayapple | |
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| Mayapple in flower | |
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| Species: | P. peltatum
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| Binomial name | |
| Podophyllum peltatum | |
Podophyllum peltatum [1] (the mayapple) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to the eastern part of North America.
The stems grow to 30-40 cm tall, with palmately lobed leaves up to 20-30 cm diameter with 5-9 deeply cut lobes. Young or weakened plants produce a single radial (umbrella-like) leaf and do not flower, while mature plants produce two (rarely three) palmate leaves and a single white flower 3-5 cm diameter with six (rarely up to nine) petals; the flower matures into a yellow-greenish fruit 2-5 cm long. The plant appears in colonies in open woodlands. Individual shoots are often connected by systems of thick tubers and rhizomes. [2]
Despite the common name mayapple [3], it is the flower that appears in early May, not the "apple", which appears later during the summer. The mayapple is also called the hogapple, Indian apple, umbrella plant (shape of the leaves), wild lemon (flavor of the fruit), wild mandrake, American mandrake (shape of rhizomes) or "devil's apple" (used for Solanum linnaeanum elsewhere).
According to Brian Fondren, the rhizome of the mayapple has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, originally by Native Americans and later by other settlers. [2]
Toxicity
The root of the plant is poisonous. The fruit is edible, in moderate amounts, only when it is ripened in late summer. In large amounts the fruit is in fact poisonous. [4] The plant contains podophyllotoxin [5], which is used as a cytostatic and topically in the treatment of viral and genital warts.
Gallery
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A flowering plant -
Fruit touching the earth on June 14, 2007 -
Fruit touching the earth on June 14, 2007 -
Fruit on July 18, 2007 -
Leaves -
Immature plants with single leaves
References
- ^ "Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- ^ a b Fondren, Brian T. "Mayapple". Ethnobotanical leaflets. Retrieved 2006-06-03.
- ^ Podophyllum peltatum at USDA PLANTS Database
- ^ Blanchan, Neltje (2002). Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
- ^ Moraes, R.M., H. Lata, E. Bedir, M. Maqbool, and K. Cushman. 2002. On American Mayapple as practical source of podophyllotoxin p. 527–532. In: J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds.), Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA.
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