Growing & Domesticating Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum)

Professor_Porcupine · December 31, 2024, 3:09am

I want to domesticate Mayapples (Podophyllum spp.), Among the few best Super Cold Hardy Plants that produce Edible Fruits with Tropical Flavors. I don’t want mayapples to be a Forager exclusive, I want everyone to enjoy them too! Just look at that diversity! Landrace potential!

HOW TO EAT
We must exercise caution because Mayapples (Podophyllum spp.) are very toxic plants, the only part that’s edible is the ripe fruit. Unripe fruits are toxic (Just like with Tomatoes, Black Nightshades & many other fruits) so no need to fear them. Simply rip open a ripe fruit, suck out the pulp, spit out the seeds & discard the skin. The seeds are not edible but should pass right thru if swallowed by accidentally (Key thing is to not crush the seeds, they taste horrible if you do). Breeding a Seedless mayapple may be a worthy goal if a Parthenocarpic form shows up.

Here’s what unripe Mayapples look like (Green, Firm & Taste Nasty). These unripe Fruits can be picked green (At just the first sign of whitening) to ripen off vine just like with Tomatoes, thus ensuring yield by beating the animals to it. This is how I ate ~40 Mayapple fruits when most foragers are lucky to even get 1, all I had to do was wait till they turn yellow.

PHYLOGENIC TREE
Here’s a Phylogenic Tree on Podophyllum Relationships (*Note Dysosma & Diphylleia are now Podophyllum species, there’s a good chance all are crossable with Mayapples).

SPECIES/VARIETIES
Below are all the Mayapple species worth exploring, I suspect all are cross-compatible (Especially with the aid of Mentor Pollination).

Yellow American Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
The typical variety, these have a Pineapple x Sweet Tropical Passionfruit Flavor. Truly incredible for such a cold hardy species (USDA Hardiness Zone 3-9).

Many-Fruited American Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum f. polycarpum)
An uncommon Multi-Fruited form of Mayapples. Normally each 2-leafed plant only produces 1 fruit, but this form can produce 4-6 fruits per plant. Sometimes this form simply makes 1 Huge Mayapple fruit, (Such Incredible Genetics, someone Needs to save these seeds).

Red American Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum f. deamii)
A rare form of Mayapple with Pink Flowers & Red Fruit with Red flesh & Maroon Seeds. From all the research I’ve done, Nobody seems to have even tried it to describe it’s flavor.

Orange American Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum f. biltmoreanum)
A Super Rare Form, Fruit with a rich apricot to mango-orange skin & yellowish-white flesh inside. It’s so rare I couldn’t even find a single photo! It was Discovered just North of Barrington Lake County Illinois by Mrs. Valerie Bordener. When not in fruit, it’s indistinguishable from the regular yellow fruited types.
NO PHOTOS EXIST!

Red Himalayan Mayapple (Podophyllum hexandrum)
Sister Species most closest Phylogenically to the American Mayapple. These are also edible when fully ripe & Foraged sometimes in the Himayalan Region as a Wild Edible. Couldn’t find much info about their taste but some described it as ranging from tasteless to Tomato x Pawpaw Tropical Fruity flavor with strong aroma.

Many-Fruited Asian Mayapple (Podophyllum pleianthum & versipelle Complex).
Used to be it’s own Dysosmos genus, but not Placed into Podophyllum. This is actually a species complex & has some rare ornamental hybrid varieties. Fully ripe fruits should be edible & I can’t wait to try one! The Multi-Fruited Trait is super useful! Ripe Fruits come in a Red or Yellow & Flowers in a Dark Red, Pink, Yellow or with long petals.

Blue Mayapple (Podophyllum grayi)
AKA Skeleton Flower (Cuz flowers become transparent with water contact), sometimes placed in it’s own genus Dyphylleia grayi. According to PFAF these are edible (But no details were given). I did find a French blog that mentioned they’re edible & taste sweet/sour according to Japanese Nurseryman (Apparently similar to barberry?). Reguardless, these berries are very small but could provide useful genetics into a Mayapple Landrace.

Appalachian Blue Mayapple (Podophyllum cymosum)
AKA Umbrella Leaf (Diphylleia cymosa). Nearly Identical to Skeleton flower except it has fruits are slightly smaller, held on red stems (Pedicels) & Flowers don’t become transparent with water. No specific mention about edibilty for this exact species, but it’s Phylogenically sister to P. grayi, thus very likely has similar edibility. It’s a species I want to try tasting, seeds inside are red (Last Photo).

HOT TO GROW FROM SEED
Mayapples are relatively easy to grow from seed (I’d follow these tips for all species). Seeds need cold stratification & germinate best with light warm to cold cycles. You can just sow them outdoors in a pot or in ground to let nature do it for you or you can sow seeds indoors, (Cold Garage or Fridge can stimulate the needed Cold Stratification). You can speed up germination by putting ziplock baggie in fridge, then putting them at room temperature in Jan/Feb/March & seeds will germinate gradually. Seeds of different mayapple species Pictured below

Once seeds have germinated, they will remain at the Cotyledon stage for 1 year without any true leaves (This is normal because that’s how mayapples grow, they are building a strong root system). Remember to transplant after plants go dormant cuz they can get root bound in a pot.

Here’s what the root system looks like below the shoot. You can transplant divisions easily once you get a good patch going (Great way to clone exact cultivars!)

Eventually after a few years your mayapples will start to flower/fruit. Most optimal fruiting happens sheltered under open canopy trees with lots of sunlight. Mayapples would grow perfectly under Fruit Trees, in a Food Forrest setting. The more sunlight, the more fruiting! I think the reason why they like growing under trees because is because of the sheltered environment & access to water (A good mulch may achieve the same effect).

My hope is to equip you with the knowledge needed to grow & breed Mayapples. These wild edibles are just Begging to be domesticated, and with so many potential species to choose & Cross with, something truly incredible could be bred. So much untapped potential, I refuse to believe I’m the only one wanting to domesticate them, so join me & lets domesticate the Mayapples together!

KS_razerback · December 31, 2024, 3:20am

I’ve definitely been wanting to try growing some here.

Professor_Porcupine · December 31, 2024, 3:25am

Nice! They really are worthwhile. My hope is to spark interest in Mayapples cuz there’s alot of potential to become an incredible crop.

GrapeNut · December 31, 2024, 4:57am

I grow P. pleianthum and some pleianthum and delavayii hybrids. They are not self-fertile, so you will need at least two unrelated plants in bloom to get fruit.

Professor_Porcupine · December 31, 2024, 5:06am

Nice! Indeed, some species are fully outcrossing while a few are self-pollinating. Have you tried any of the P. pleianthum or P. delavayii fruits? I wasn’t able to find any photos of the ripe fruits (Or what the insides look like, as well as flavor descriptions).

JohannsGarden · December 31, 2024, 5:36am

One thing that bothers me about hybrid cultivars of Podophyllum already on the market is that they aren’t clearly documented with certainty as to which combination of species they originated from. Makes it risky using them since some may not be safe to eat.

JohannsGarden · December 31, 2024, 5:42am

Far Reaches Nursery has carried quite an array of Podophyllum species and hybrids over the years. Of those currently in stock, some are species or hybrids thereof that are not known to be edible. However, it looks like they currently have a few selections of species which are allegedly edible.

GrapeNut · December 31, 2024, 6:16am

The second picture in the ones you posted under P. pleianthum is pretty much how the fruit looks when mature. Maybe a little more yellow. I didn’t taste the fruit but I remember it smelling pretty good. Mostly banana with some passionfruit I think.

Professor_Porcupine · December 31, 2024, 6:26am

Oh this is easy. Most of the Chinese Hybrid Mayapples are all part of the Versipellis-Pleiantha Complex. Included in the species complex all those formally known as Dysosma like D. majoensis, D. versipellis, D. difformis, D. pleiantha. (Basically all these species are extremely closely related & hybridize constantly that they become 1 highly diverse species).

Here’s the Phylogenic Tree of that Versipellis-Pleiantha Complex in focus.

You can see outside the complex are D. aurantiocaule & D. tsayuensis, but there’s no reason why they can’t cross too!

Now about edibility, it’s almost certain that the fully ripe fruits are edible, I’d say equally as Podophyllum peltatum & Podophyllum hexandrum (Since the whole tribe is Paraphyletic, there’s a good chance they can cross too & other Podophyllum species have similar edibility). I’d love to try fruits of every mayapple species.
The important Trend among all Mayapple species is

the fully ripe fruits are edible
Seeds are toxic, but especially if crushed (They pass thru just fine if not crushed). I tried crushing seeds & they taste NASTY/BITTER, let’s just say you won’t fuck this up willingly
The skin is usally not edible & discarded. The only part that’s eaten is the pulp inside. Simply rip the fruits open, suck the pulp & Spit out the seeds elsewhere.

From all the research I’ve done, No Mayapple species really bucks this trend. Even the Blue Mayapples Diphylleia grayi have edible fruits & very likely follows this trend too ( i want to cross all of them together, form a landrace, hopefully a seedless mutant shows up, that way you won’t have to spit out seeds).

Good links but sadly they sell no seeds (Thus not applicable in my current situation with no land).

Oh wow! I’ve heard the fruits of that species can be Yellow or Red, very nice to know they look like that mature (So perhaps in the photo, they were almost mature?). If you could take a photo of your fruits when they fully ripen, I’d love to see (& the inside as well).

Wow! Such incredible Smell Descriptions, Passionfruit is what the P. peltaum taste like with pineapple flavors. I know Mayapples smell the way they taste, so yours very likely taste that way too. If you get a chance to try them, I really hope you do! If you can save some seeds, I’d happily trade with you.

Professor_Porcupine · December 31, 2024, 6:56am

@JohannsGarden Reading thru the shop decriptions of Podophyllum aurantiocaule, I found Orange Fruit very interesting! I didn’t know this species produced orange fruit, I thought it was red.

However there is also a Pink Flowered form of that species. So perhaps this species just natural mutants with orange fruits like with Podophyllum peltatum.

Do you know where I could find a photo of the Orange fruit? I’ve never seen it & I’ve looked around the internet for while.

Boise30 · January 1, 2025, 9:48pm

How can one purchase a Yellow American Mayapple vs a “mayapple” from a grower?

Professor_Porcupine · January 1, 2025, 9:59pm

There are some websites that sell plants (Rarely seeds). As for the other more rarer species, I’m hoping to find people who forage or grow these to trade seeds with, so far no real leads hence why I tried here.

I have seeds of Yellow American Mayapple, I’m willing to trade for them if you want.

Boise30 · January 1, 2025, 10:16pm

What are you looking for?

Professor_Porcupine · January 1, 2025, 10:19pm

Seeds of all kinds of edible Plants (Tree Crops, Vegetables, Fruits & Berries, Wild Edibles, ect). I can’t accept scions, tubers or bulbs only seeds cuz I have no Land to Garden on.

zone7a · January 3, 2025, 5:51pm

What would be your recommended strategy for domesticating mayapples?

Foragers find specimens and save their seeds, potentially note characteristics mature fruit on a central website
Seeds are distributed and grown
When mature, plant’s characteristics are catalogued on a central website
Seeds with good characteristics are kept for breeding and the cycle repeats

I’ve seen some may apples on my trips, but I never picked them because they are poisonous underripe, and the animals always get them when ripe. Now that I know I can pick them underripe, I’ll happily join you on this quest. Because mayapples seem like an excellent companion plant to my fruit trees, they can become a new layer in the food forest.

Professor_Porcupine · January 3, 2025, 7:51pm

1st, gather as much genetic germaplasm as possible & make a hybrid swarm of it all.
2nd, Observe for good traits that show up, like flavor, bigger size, more yield, Adaptability, frost tolerance, ect.
3rd, Let the best of the best cross with each other. Esentially making a highly diverse landrace of Mayapples with the most delicious abundant easy to use fruits.

This can be speedrun if others do the same, by sharing seeds & notes about their recent projects. Different people may have different varieties, thus giving more room for selection & crossing.

Awesome! This was my goal, to get more people growing mayapples for the love of mayapples!
I want to do interspecies crosses, Imagine getting a Large Blue Mayapple with new flavors? or an Orange Mayapple? or a Seedless Mayapple so you don’t have to worry about spitting out seeds?

zone7a · January 3, 2025, 9:21pm

Will the seeds be viable if picked underripe? Whenever I go hiking I’ll keep an eye out…

The ideal would be in no particular order:

Precocious (fruits after just 1 season)
Multiple fruits (many fruits on the same plant)
Size (larger portion of the edible portion of the fruit)
No seeds/less seeds
Flavor (variety of different flavors)
Texture
Color (variety of different textures)
Ripening time (variety)
Disease tolerance
Maintain Shade/heat tolerance (Ideally these would produce terrific fruit even if under the shade of a mature tree)
Maintain hardiness
Is it possible to breed them to be self fruitful? Or will we probably always need a male and a female? I read they can reproduce using underground rhybozomes too
Showy flowers
Not nasty tasting seeds / skin (I won’t be testing this )

Do you have any research on which species are viable to cross? I’ll keep an eye out for any in the US North East that are viable.

Has anyone tried fruiting them in pots?

JohannsGarden · January 3, 2025, 9:51pm

Yes, they will fruit in pots. I’d recommend not doing too small of a pot though and they seem to respond well to fertilizer.

Professor_Porcupine · January 3, 2025, 10:17pm

Yes! As long as you let them fully ripen. It be hard to extract seeds from unripe fruit cuz they’re firm & Poisonous. Since unripe fruits ripen so easily off the vine. Unripe Green at the first sign of changing color will ripen (I harvest these Typically a week or 2 before they usally ripen). Fully green ones that are small are less likely to ripen, there is a limit to how unripe you can harvest to ripen off vine.

OOH! Fantasic traits too look for!

Altho Fruiting after just 1 season is unlikely, It may happen if fed really really well! I imagine lots of Compost + Lots of sunlight access will do the trick. More light = More fruit sets. Often times Mayapple patches that aren’t fruiting poorly (or no more) indicate that at 1 time there used to be enough sunlight in the forrest to allow fruiting.

Multiple fruits already exist in Podophyllum peltatum f. polycarpum, altho it’s a rare form & often times the all the fruits don’t ripen well (Sometimes a Larger fruited specimum is found).

The Many-Fruited Asian Mayapple (Podophyllum pleianthum & versipelle Complex) is what you want for that trait. It’s why that species interested me so much.
Imagine getting that trait transfered into other Mayapple species.

YES! Less skin, less seed & more pulp (The only edible part). A seedless variety will help make the difference between a Novelty & Commercialization. That trait combined with picking unripe fruits for transport can help them appear in Grocery Stores.

So far I’ve only tried Podophyllum peltatum. I tried to ask people who found other species mayapple fruits on Inaturalist to describe the flavors, most didn’t even the fruits were edible. So I’m left with such little info on what flavors do exist out there.
As for texture, it appears P. hexandrum is more dryier compared to P. peltatum.

So far, Only Red, Orange, Yellow & Blue/Purpleish Colors exist. I wonder if a fully ripe Green color exist like with Fully Ripe Edible Green Tomatoes. Imagine a fully white Mayapple!?

Yes, that’s a big one! Extending the harvest season is awesome! Also should investigate freezing Mayapples for long term storage too.

hmm… maybe altho the more sunlight = more fruits so selecting for too strong tolerance for shade might just create a plant that survives but makes no fruit. I think selection for a more sun-tolerant might be the better direction to aim for. I’m wondering if the whole reason they like growing undertrees is for water access, tho it could also be to shelter from harsh sunlight.

P. peltatum leaves wilt by summer when the fruit is ripe so I think sun-damage is irrelevant cuz, harsh sun is not common in spring. However for Podophyllum pleianthum & versipelle Complex that does keep it’s leaves green until fall, so perhaps combination of traits can make a more adaptive offspring.

Indeed! Surprisingly they are all relatively cold hardy. P. peltatum is the most cold hardy species & particually those of the upmost northen populations.

That’s the thing, I don’t think there’s a male vs female plant with Mayapples. For Podophyllum peltatum it’s mostly 2 leaved plants that make the flower containing both male & female parts. I think the amount of 2 leaved plants it totally subject to the amount of sunlight available.
Yes Taking roots during the Dormant Season (Winter) is an effective way to clone them! This is great to preserve your breeding efforts but also allows you to re-enforce the good traits you want in a breeding landrace population.

They are already bred for Showy Flowers, several Cultivars exist but most of them are for the Chinese Mayapples (Podophyllum pleianthum & versipelle Complex). Mostly they are bred for the ornamental leaves but some are also bred for ornamental flowers too!
Here’s the flower diversity that exist among mayapples (Some are even Transparent with Water Contact!)

Oh that’s an interesting trait, a bite of seeds won’t kill you but it’s not adviseable (I tried, they taste Horrible, and I don’t think it’s a trait to breed for). Edible skin likewise isn’t a trait to breed for altho maybe (I haven’t tasted every mayapple fruit, so that’s to be explored).

I’m convinced all species are cross compatible with Mentor Pollination as the entire tribe (Or genus, depeding on the way you count them) is Paraphyletic. It’s almos certain Podophyllum peltaum x Podophyllum hexandrum are cross-compatible. It seems the cutoff point for hybridization is the Achlys genus. Here are some Phylogenic Trees (Sinopodophyllum, Dysosma & Diphylleia are old scientific names, they’re all now Podophyllum).

Here’s a Phylogenic Tree for the Chinese Mayapples (Podophyllum pleianthum & versipelle Complex). All species of that complex are Proven Cross Compatible with Many Interspecies hybrids (So much so, it blurs the lines between species, hence why it’s a complex).

Fantastic! Fruitng in Pots can make Mayapples suitable for Speed Breeding (Where you plant light for 22 hours a day to get plants to flower quicker, thus able to pump out 2-8 generations in 1 year). Since they respond well to fertilizer, I’m gonna pee on them . Gonna have to lay off the salty foods & eat really clean to give them the best fertilizer (Altho It might be more effective to pee on the compost, then give it to them).

JohannsGarden · January 3, 2025, 10:26pm

Simply giving them 22 hours of light would not allow you to breed multiple generations per year. While there might be some tropical relatives which could in theory be more suggestible, the temperate P. peltatum is very in tune with the seasons and generally will put on only one flush of growth per year. I have found fertilizing well can help it put on good rhizome growth, but you won’t really see those results above ground till the following year. I’d be shocked if you could get any P. peltatum to flower at anything less than a few years from seed.