If you've walked in the woods this week, you might think a beach party is about to begin. There are beach umbrellas popping up all over the forest floor.
But unlike those on the sandy shoreline, these umbrellas are about 10
If you've walked in the woods this week, you might think a beach party is about to begin. There are beach umbrellas popping up all over the forest floor.
But unlike those on the sandy shoreline, these umbrellas are about 10 inches high. And, of course they're not really umbrellas; they're the leaves of a woodland plant called May-apple.
Where to see May-appleTo see May-apple and a host of other spring wildflowers, be sure to visit your local forest preserve this month. There are spectacular displays of wildflowers at Bliss Woods in Sugar Grove, Johnson's Mound in Elburn, Burnidge Forest Preserve in Elgin, and Maegher-Freeman in Gilberts.
This spring wildflower is worth a close look for its unique appearance as well as its ecology. It also has an established role in medicine and in cuisine.
Known in botany-speak as Podophyllum peltatum, May-apple is the only member of its genus in North America. Its closest cousins live in East Asia. The botanical family as a whole is not a large one and its members are spread thinly across the northern hemisphere.
In northern Illinois, the buds of the May-apple plant usually make their debut on the first warm days in April. This year, with crazy summer temperatures in mid-March, the button-shaped buds appeared extraordinarily early. Many wildflower enthusiasts noted that the leaf stalks shot up in record time, and the leaves seemed to unfurl before their eyes.
Where there's one May-apple umbrella leaf, there are many. Clusters of May-apples grow together in the dappled sunlight of the spring woods.
What appear to be many plants, however, is in fact a clonal colony of one plant connected by rhizomes, or underground stems.
Some leaf stalks are single and bear one broad leaf. These single stalks are flowerless. Other stalks are forked, with two leaves at the end of each fork. If you see such a double stalk, gently part the leaves and look underneath. There you'll find a lovely white flower hidden in the shade of its umbrella as if bashful of its own beauty.
The many-petalled flower is pollinated by insects, but it bears no nectar. Bumblebees and other long-tongued bees visit these flowers but receive little reward for their sweet tooth -- or tongue, as the case may be. Without nectar to attract and encourage pollinators, reproductive success is limited, and the species relies on clonal spreading to advance across the forest floor.
If pollinated, the May-apple flower ripens into a greenish-yellow berry, usually in May -- hence, the common name "May-apple." There are numerous seeds in each pulpy berry. Box turtles are fond of May-apples and chow down on them whenever possible.
Lumbering across the woods, turtles disseminate seeds that pass through their digestive tracts. Research has shown that germination rates of May-apple seeds that make the trip through a turtle are higher than those not digested by these reptiles.
The fruit is edible for humans, too, and is considered a delicacy by many. The ripe berries can be eaten raw or used for making jams and preserves. May-apple berries are also mixed into lemonade.
Too much of a good thing, however, can make you sick. The