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For Your Garden - April 2013
Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year. Consider adding a few native plant species to your garden soon!
mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
The mayapple, or mandrake, is a very common plant found in woodlands statewide. It develops from an underground stem. The plant may grow to two feet in height and has two umbrellalike leaves, each with five to nine lobes. A single leaf may be 14 inches wide. The leaves attach to the stalk from their bottom center. Flowering occurs from April through June. One white flower develops where the leaf stalks join at the main stem. The flower has six to nine petals, and only lasts a day or two. The fruit is an ovoid, yellow berry that may be two inches long. The fruit ripens in August.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Berberidaceae
Illinois Status: common, native
