BERBERIDACEAE BARBERRY FAMILY 
MAY APPLE. MANDRAKE 
Podophyllum peltatum L. 
The Barberry family is chiefly important for the 
common Barberry Bush which harbors the fungus that 
causes black stem rust of Wheat, and for the eradication 
of which the United 
States spends large 
sums each year. 
The May Apple is 
a common perennial in 
rich woods throughout 
Illinois and over most 
of the eastern half of 
the United States. Its 
stout stem creeps un- 
derground not far be- 
low the surface, and 
from it branch thick 
fibrous roots. The 
peltate leaves are often 
1 foot in diameter. 
Each flower is borne 
on a short slender stem, 
sometimes from the 
petiole of a single leaf 
but usually, as shown, 
from the crotch of a branching petiole that bears a pair of leaves. 
There are 6 pale green sepals which soon fall off, 6 or g white 
petals, twice as many stamens as petals and 1 fat pistil. Forms 
with pink flowers are occasionally found. 
The edible fruit, though commonly called an apple, is really 
a berry. Ripe in July, it is sweet and slightly acid, 1-2 inches 
long but possibly reaching the size of a small Lemon, though 
darker yellow, more fleshy, much less juicy and containing many 
seeds. Wild Lemon and Hog Apple are other names from these 
characteristics. Roots, stems and leaves contain a poisonous 
substance called podophyllin, much used in medicine. 
O. the bank where wild flowers blossom, ferns nod and mosses creep 
In a tangled maze of beauty over all the wooded steep! 
Homesick—Juv.Lia C. R. DORR 
115 
