across, rounded, centrally peltate, umbrella fashion, 5 to 7
lobed, the lobes 2-cleft, dark above, light green below. Leaves
of flowering stem 1 to 3, usually a pair, similar to others, but
smaller. Fruit: A fleshy, yellowish, egg-shaped, many-seeded
fruit about 2 in. long.
Preferred habitat - Rich, moist woods.
Flowering Season - May.
Distribution - Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to
Minnesota and Texas.
In giving this plant its abridged scientific name, Linnaeus
seemed to see in its leaves a resemblance to a duck's foot
(Anapodophyllum) but equally imaginative American children call
them green umbrellas, and declare they unfurl only during April
showers. In July, a sweetly mawkish, many-seeded fruit,
resembling a yellow egg-tomato, delights the uncritical palates
of little people, who should be warned, however, against putting
any other part of this poisonous, drastic plant in their mouths.
Physicians best know its uses. Dr. Asa Gray's statement about the
harmless fruit "eaten by pigs and boys" aroused William Hamilton
Gibson, who had happy memories of his own youthful gorges on
anything edible that grew.
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