Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is a perennial herbaceous plant that is native to eastern North America.
In the past few days Mayapples have been poking their noses up through the surface of the earth in one of my gardens. The beginning of a beautiful process. They emerge with their leaves, either one or two, folded like a work of meticulous origami.
As time passes the leaves expand, reaching to greet whatever or whoever might be witnessing the process.
If there are a pair of leaves those two leaves will share a stem that forks. In the axil of the stem there will be a bud which opens to be about 2 inches wide, a circle of 6 to 9 waxy white petals.
More than likely these Mayapples are genetically identical, growing from rhizomes spreading in the soil. Making pollination of the flowers unlikely since genetic diversity is needed.
As mid-summer arrives the leaves will go dormant leaving their home as if they had never been there, until the next spring, when it will happen all over again.
