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Umbrella-ish short leafy plant?
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Umbrella-ish short leafy plant?


KY Zone 7a. Grows in patches in the woods, likes low-light areas. By summer they'll cover most of the forest floor.

Adult plant is around a foot tall with 5-8 leaves growing in an umbrella-like manner. The biggest are somewhere between saucer and dinner plate size. Stems are thick but not woody or bush-like. Leaf underside is slightly silvery/lighter than top of leaf, plant is smooth and not fuzzy at all on leaf or stem. The adult plant with the small growth in the second picture is a firm bulb.

No real smell except when you break a leaf, then just a strong "wet green" smell like grass clippings cranked up. Nothing visibly leaks from the broken leaf portion. Haven't broken it at the stem or dug it up to look at the roots, but a relative seems to think they spread underground.

Any ideas? All I get with google is schefflera trees/bushes.

by mach3nonsense

12 Comments

  2. Rusty_Ferberger

    I started seeing patches of Mayapple pop up last year in NJ. I’ve never seen these here before and it’s strange seeing them randomly in the middle of the woods.

  3. Nathaireag

    The entire umbrella is a leaf. The branched ones with two leaves have flowers. Look for those for developing fruit. When ripe it’s very soft inside. Some folks get a bellyache from eating them before they soften.

  5. whywouldyoudothat420

    Mayapple flowers have the best smell of any plant imo

  6. unrelatedtoelephant

    I believe only when they split off and form two tops (i don’t know the technical term sorry) is when they form the fruit. Fruit is edible only when completely ripe but the seeds and everything else is poison to humans. Usually turtles and deer get to the fruit first

  7. Shaydee_plantz

    This is definitely Mayapple. I wish I had a colony of this in my yard. They’re a very popular native plant for gardens in my region.

  8. Unfair-Reindeer7492

    I remember eating these when I was in grade school.

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