Medicinal Monday - The Mighty Mayapple

Mayapple is a native woodland plant that can be found in most of eastern North America.  Mayapples have many names including American Mandrake, Ducks Foot, Indian Apple, Love Apple, Raccoon Berry and Umbrella Plant.  Eating too much of the fruit of the mayapple was poisonous, but the Native Americans knew what they were doing and used this plant extensively.

About Mayapple Plants

Today the mayapple is often grown as an ornamental plant because of its large beautiful leaves and flowers. This herbaceous perennial belongs to the same family as Japanese barberry, known as heavenly bamboo.  When the Mayapple first emerges it looks like a closed umbrella before it's leaves unfurl.

As a perennial, it spreads by rhizomes that form large colonies.  The most striking thing about this plant is its leaves, that are massive in relation to the overall size of the plant.  The mayapple plant needs partial or full shade to thrive and prefers rich, moist soil.

The "apple" is a fruit that succeeds a short-lived white flower.  The fruit, of this plant, which is about the size of a small lemon, is only edible when it is fully ripe and a soft yellowish color.  The leaves of the plant die back making the fruit easy to spot.  If you eat the fruit while it is still green and not ripe, you will become sick. The flavor of the fruit is said to have a mildly acidic taste. 

Medicinal & Culinary Uses 

The edible fruit (when yellow) of the mayapple was eaten raw, cooked, made into jams, and jellies by Native Americans. Medicinally the entire plant was used by Native Americans in a variety of ways.  

The Cherokee would soak the root of the mayapple plant in whiskey and use it to treat rheumatism; the Meskwaki also used a decoction of this plant to treat rheumatism.  The Delaware used the powdered root as a laxative. The Iroquois would make a cold infusion of the smashed roots that acted like a physic.  They would also use it in a corn ceremony and would make a decoction of leaves from the mayapple along with other plants to soak corn seeds before planting. 

The Penobscot used the crushed roots of the mayapple to remove warts and the Menominee used the stems and foliage as a pesticide by boiling them in water and using this water to repel insects. The Iroquois also used this plant as a veterinary aid and would place seeds and fruit pulp on the shoulder of a horse.  It was also used as a laxative for horses. Some Native Communities used mayflower to treat snakebite, warts, and skin conditions.

Did you Know

Mayapple was said to have been used by witches as poison. 

The unripe fruit is toxic. The ripened yellow fruit is edible in small amounts.

Mayapple was used as an ingredient in Carter's Little Liver Pills.


All parts of the mayapple plant, except the fruit, contain podophyllotoxin which is highly toxic if consumed. 
Podophyllotoxin is an ingredient in prescription drugs used for the treatment of certain cancers, psoriasis, and malaria.


One of the common names of the mayapple plant is American mandrake although they are not related both are poisonous and both have been used for medicinal purposes.  The difference is that European mandrake has roots shaped like miniature human beings and it is a hallucinogen.