In April, the forest floor is often covered with foot-high plants with umbrella-like leaves called may-apples (Podophyllum peltatum).
![May-apples in April. Some have one leaf, other two.](https://www.elizabethjanekitchens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_1717-1024x768.jpg)
![Some have one leaf, but only the ones with two leaves bear a bloom, and later, an edible fruit (the May-apple).](https://www.elizabethjanekitchens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_1716-768x1024.jpg)
However, these plants have a rather sinister look in my opinion.
![The sinister-looking may-apple about to unfold its wings, err, leaves.](https://www.elizabethjanekitchens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_1718-768x1024.jpg)
![Look at this baby one. It looks like a green Dracula with his cape draped about him.](https://www.elizabethjanekitchens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_2101-768x1024.jpg)
They kind of remind me of this guy from Disney’s Fantasia.
![From the Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia.](https://www.elizabethjanekitchens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fantasia.jpg)
Like the poison love-apple (the tomato), the may-apple has an edible fruit. But beware those wing-like leaves, for they, and the roots, are poisonous. So, there is some justification for my initial sense of there being something sinister about these plants.
Reminds me of Alien. 🙂 Like something will pop out of that bud and grab your face!
It does!