Who Eats Mayapples?

Ripe mayapple fruit (photos by Dianne Machesney)
Ripe mayapple fruit (photos by Dianne Machesney)

Remember mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum), those umbrella-leaf woodland plants whose single drooping white flowers bloom in April or May?

Mayapple in flower with twin leaves (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Mayapple in bloom (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

By August each fertilized flower has turned into a fruit, a mayapple.

The entire mayapple plant is poisonous but there’s a brief window in August when the fruit is ripe and safe to eat.  Chipmunks and deer know this, too, so if you want to risk tasting a ripe fruit, you’ll have to beat them to it.

On Throw Back Thursday, read about the right conditions for Eating Mayapples.

p.s. Be cautious. I have never eaten a mayapple and I don’t intend to start now.

(photo credits: mayapple fruit by Dianne Machesney, blooming mayapple plant from Wikimedia Commons, click on the caption to see the original)

One thought on “Who Eats Mayapples?

  1. I do. They are delicious, and smell amazing. I want to try making jam out of them one year when I find enough.

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