A MAY-APPLE WITH MULTIPLE FRUITS 



By Willard N. Clute. 



I 'HERE are few flowering plants more abundant in the rich 

 moist woods of the Northern States than the mandrake 

 or May-apple {^Podophyllum peltatuin). Its large umbrella- 

 shaped leaves, sufliciently out of the ordinary to attract the at- 

 tention of even the non-botanical, and its habit of growing in 

 colonies of considerable extent, make it a familiar plant to al- 

 most everybody. 



Although so common and well known, few departures 

 from the normal, either in leaves or flowers, have been reported. 

 Occasionally semi-double flowers are found, but in general the 

 plant clings pretty closely to the recognized pattern of its 

 species. It was all the more astonishing, therefore, to find 

 during the past summer, specimens in which the usual ovate, 

 yellow, berry was replaced by a cluster of fruits, each ap- 

 proaching in size the ordinary May-apple. This condition of 

 the plant appears to be extremely rare. With the exception of 

 the 6th edition of Gray, none of the Manuals mention it. In 

 Gray, after the usual description of the species there follows 

 the statement, ''Found occasionally with from 2 to 6 car- 

 pels," and this statement is accompanied by a mark which in- 

 dicates that this feature had been verified by the author. 



In the specimens under discussion, however, there appears 

 to be some uncertainty as to whether the fruits were produced 

 by several flowers on a stalk or by several carpels in one flower. 

 The fruits appear to be on separate though short stalks and do 

 not have the appearance of crowding one would expect in sev- 



