BARBERRY FAMILY. Berberidacese. 



May Apple, or A common > handsome woodland plant 



Mandrake remarkable for its large leaves which fre- 



Podophyllum quently measure a foot in diameter ; the 



peltatum powerless stem of the plant bears a leaf 



i * f •■ mm with 7-9 lobes, peltate in character ; i. e., 

 Late April-May r 



supported by the stem in the centre, as an 



umbrella. 



The May Apple has also been called Umbrella Leaf, and, 

 in allusion to its peculiar lemonlike fruit, Wild Lemon. 

 The flowering stalks bear two less symmetrical leaves, 

 from between the stems of which droops the ill-smelling 

 but handsome white flower nearly 2 inches broad ; it 

 usually has 6 petals and twice as many stamens ; it is 

 without nectar, but is nevertheless cross-fertilized by the 

 early bees and the bumblebees ; these collect the pollen. 

 Prof. Robertson believes that the plant may be occa- 

 sionally self-fertilized ; although the anthers do not 

 reach out as far as the stigmas, they sometimes do touch 

 the tip edge of the stigma. Fruit a large, fleshy, edible, 

 lemon-shaped berry. Leaves and root poisonous, and 

 medicinal. The plant is 12-18 inches high, and is com- 

 mon in damp rich woods, from N. Y., west to Minn, 

 and Neb., and south. Not in northern New England. 



A plant of the woodlands so common in spring about 

 the neighborhood of Greater New York, seems con- 

 spicuously and strangely absent in the vicinity of Bos- 

 ton, where the Skunk Cabbage apparently takes its 

 place. Mrs. Dana remarks that Podophyllum "attracts 

 one's attention by the railways," which is perfectly true 

 of southern New York and New Jersey, but it does not 

 apply to New England. The plant is found at Concord, 

 Mass., but it was transplanted there ; in Vermont it is 

 known only at a few stations, in New Hampshire it is 

 rare if not absent, and in Maine, so far as my knowledge 

 goes, it is quite unknown. 



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