Mayapples also are among the easiest to identify of all wildflowers, with their white, waxy-petaled, single, two-inch broad flowers nodding from the branching points of Y-shaped stems.

Above a close-up of a flower shows the stamens' banana-like, yellow anthers releasing pollen, the stamen number being twice that of the number of petals. Inside the anther cluster you see the female green ovary topped with a cauliflower-like stigma, the stigma being where pollen grains germinate. A few weeks from now the ovary will have matured into a pleasant tasting yellow fruit, but usually animals eat them before they're ripe enough to entice humans.

Another name for Mayapples is Mandrake, and with a name like that you might expect it to have some medicinal uses. When I was hermiting near here, each spring researchers from Ol' Miss interested in Mayapple's medicinal value came to study a population near my camp. Especially the root contains powerful chemicals that can give you dermatitis if you get root juice on you. One chemical in Mayapple root, podophyllin, is much studied as a cancer medicine because it interferes with cell division.