Podophyllum peltatum

The alternate popular name Mandrake rightly belongs to an unrelated Old World plant with a similar root.

Although the leaves, roots, and seeds are poisonous if ingested in large quantities, the roots were used as a cathartic by Native Americans. The edible, ripe, golden-yellow fruits can be used in jellies. Ripe (yellow and soft) fruit is edible raw, but in limited quantity. The fruit has a lemon-like flavor and can be used to make jams, jellies and marmalade. Native Americans used Podophyllum for a wide variety of medicinal purposes and as an insecticide

Mayapple colonizes by rhizomes, forming dense mats in damp, open woods.

Mixed deciduous forest, shaded fields, shaded moist road banks, and shaded riverbanks.