American Mandrake

[Jeff]

This morning was the morning I was waiting for. I've been wanting to catch our Mayapples just as they bloomed in order to video them. Seems every year I forget, or get them timed wrong. I got them right this morning. American Mandrake is the proper name. Each plant has one bloom, which is hidden benea the large umbrella like leaves. I've never found this growing on another site. It was only a couple plants when I found it under that oak in the back yard in the 1980s. Remember the Mandrake pants in Harry Potter?  NOT THE SAME. ;)  Let me know if you've ever seen this here in Michigan.

American Mandrake. Mayapple. TOXIC! But Edible Fruit? - YouTube

[WV Sawmiller]

  Neat plant. We have a lot of them on our property on the shaded damp areas. I've never tried eating the fruit.

[SwampDonkey]

Neat plant, we don't have it in NB, but it is native to NS, ON and QC. Great that you have preserved their growing site.

Something similar but smaller that we have is the bloodroot. It's flowering is over and done with quickly to. Ants disperse their seeds and apparently they don't store, they have to be planted as soon as collected and not dry out. They grow like your plant around tree bases.

[thecfarm]

Looks like they like it there.

[Autocar]

We have tons of them in west central Ohio they just got done blooming and the may apple is started to fill out. Late summer the fruit will turn bright yellow and you eat the inside Not the skin. But normally the coons beat you to them  ;D

[Don P]

They are one of those that sounded like too much figuring to figure I wouldn't end up poisoned. I went looking for a patch that has been on the woods edge in a rocky damp hollow, I thought I got them but there\s a few left and I'm sure more in the seedbank there. I was expanding behind the barn and had to do some water work. it was running quite a bit of water today. There's a bunch more over in the rocky hollow at the other end of the property. They were in the dappled shade where the fresh rye is, but it was different before.



 

Turning just behind me there this is one rich hollow, these are some of its associates in our woods, bloodroot, jack in the pulpit, black cohosh, the flag says we harvested and replanted a nub of that one 3 years ago.


 

[Sod saw]

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Thanks, Jeff, For posting about the May Apple.  Our "lawn" has many of them as do many of the neighbors "lawns".

Our woods is not here at home but it has many growing there too.  Many years ago, My wife, Rosa, decided that it would be nice to try making May Apple Jelly.

The jelly turned out light green and thickened up just fine.  The taste was very mild with a hint of tart thrown in with the sugar.  Although we did not care for it, I can see how some folks would.

There are a lot of fine foods out in the wild that are becoming forgotten about.


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[Treeflea24]

Mayapple/Mandrake is all over on our site in South-Central MI. Around here it likes the higher, drier ground, and grows with a nearly full canopy over it. In some places it is dense enough that it looks like a false forest floor.
It also seems to survive glyphosate overspray, as Ive been spraying honeysuckle yearlings all around it and the mayapple is doing pretty well.
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot.

[WV Sawmiller]

Jeff, et. al who have them,

  Are your May apples changing colors as they get older?


 

Ours have the yellow splotches this time of year and as I remember this is typical as they age.

[Don P]

I was nodding but had to ask the boss. It is a rust, we get what looks like the same rust on black caps, hops that I tried to grow, she mentioned something else but , well, I have a great memory, its just short :D. Anyway, it is "normal" but it isn't good.

[Jeff]

I've never saw ours do that.