Back in April, I found this mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) flowering in a small patch of normal ones, one of which can be seen in the first photo. Oddly, it had no leaves and had no sign that any part of the stem had been eaten, with there being no damage to it. I talked with a professor today who suggested it might have been caused by some sort of pathogen or insect gall affecting its growth. I had also used a small amount of glyphosate (cut-and-paint application) on some invasives in the area last fall, so that may have affected it. Does anyone else have similar examples of a flowering plant failing to produce leaves but still flowering?
by A_Lountvink
3 Comments
I can appreciate your question. So this podophyllum produced a flower without leaves while the species is known for flowering with leaves present. I can’t think of any example I’ve seen but thank you for posting this, I’m sure it’ll be bugging me for the rest of the day.
As far as I know podophyllum spreads by rhizome. I’m fairly sure this individual flower is connected to the larger population, getting the energy to flower from the others who have leaves
https://vnps.org/wildflower-of-the-year-2025-mayapple-podophyllum-peltatum/
This post specifies that there is a natural genetic variant “forma aphylla” that flowers without leaves