Remember mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum), those umbrella-leaf woodland plants whose single drooping white flowers bloom in April or May?
By August each fertilized flower has turned into a fruit, a mayapple.
The entire mayapple plant is poisonous but there’s a brief window in August when the fruit is ripe and safe to eat. Chipmunks and deer know this, too, so if you want to risk tasting a ripe fruit, you’ll have to beat them to it.
On Throw Back Thursday, read about the right conditions for Eating Mayapples.
p.s. Be cautious. I have never eaten a mayapple and I don’t intend to start now.
(photo credits: mayapple fruit by Dianne Machesney, blooming mayapple plant from Wikimedia Commons, click on the caption to see the original)
I do. They are delicious, and smell amazing. I want to try making jam out of them one year when I find enough.