May-apple

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May-apple

May-apple

May-apple leaves

May-apple

May-apple

May-apple flower

May-apple flower

May-apple

May-apple

May-apple leaf

May-apple fruit

May-apple

Morphology

Stem

Erect, stout, glabrous.

Leaves

Large, simple, more or less round, up to 14 inches in diameter, deeply 3- to 9-lobed, attached to stalk at center; single leaf terminal on long stalk or stem terminating in 2 long-stalked leaves.

Inflorescence

Single flower terminating stem in fork of 2 leaf stalks; single-leaved plants often without flowers.

Flower

Nodding, 2 inches wide, on short stalk; sepals 6, petal-like, falling early; petals 6 or 9, egg-shaped, white; stamens twice as many as petals; pistil egg-shaped; stigma broad, sessile.

Fruit

Berry, fleshy, 1.75 to 2 inches in diameter, yellowish-green to occasionally purplish; seeds numerous.

Ecology

Habitat

Low, moist or dry, open woods and thickets.

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Toxicity

The rhizomes and leaves are poisonous but the ripe fruits are edible.

Forage Value

May-apple is bitter and generally avoided by livestock.

Uses

The fruits may be eaten raw, cooked, dried, made into jelly, or the juice mixed with lemonade and sugar as a drink. Native Americans used the rhizomes as a purgative and the juice from the rhizomes as an ear drop to treat deafness. They would boil the plant and sprinkle it on potato plants to kill potato bugs.

Additional Notes