The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Podophyllum peltatum
Also called Wild Mandrake, American Mandrake, May Apple, Indian Apple, Pomme De Mai
Mayapple is a woodland perennial that spreads into colonies from a creeping rhizome, with umbrella-like leaves and a single white flower in spring. It grows best in cool, moist shade and is widely grown for its foliage, but every part of the plant is poisonous.
Podophyllum peltatum is a North American herbaceous perennial plant in the family Berberidaceae. Its common names are mayapple, American mandrake, wild mandrake, and ground lemon.
All the parts of the plant are poisonous, including the unripe green fruit and perhaps the ripe fruit eaten in excess. The rhizome, foliage, and roots are all poisonous. Mayapple contains podophyllotoxin or podophyllin, which is highly toxic if consumed.
It is widespread across most of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.
The ripened yellow fruit is edible in small amounts and is sometimes made into jelly.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Podophyllum peltatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
