Species
+

Podophyllum peltatum L.

American Mandrake, American-mandrake, Indian-apple, May apple

Climate known 64 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Podophyllum peltatum is a North American herbaceous perennial plant in the family Berberidaceae. Its common names are mayapple, American mandrake, wild mandrake, and ground lemon.

Text from Wikipedia, “Podophyllum peltatum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Podophyllum

Podophyllum is a genus of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native from Afghanistan to China, and from southeast Canada to the central and eastern United States. The genus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Text from Wikipedia, “Podophyllum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Berberidaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Ontario, Québec, Illinois +34
Wild records
828 in range· 101 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1220mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 119 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 9 months (March to September and November to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1220 mm a year, wettest May at 119 mm, driest January at 90 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -8.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Anapodophyllum peltatum Moench; Podophyllum callicarpum Raf.; Podophyllum montanum Raf.; Podophyllum peltatum f. aphyllum Plitt; Podophyllum peltatum f. biltmoreanum Steyerm. and 4 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 9 months (March to September and November to December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (949 mm of 1220 mm) takes 9 months, March to September and November to December. Mean temperature moves 22.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March and May to June.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1220 mm a year, wettest May at 119 mm, driest January at 90 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1220 mm a year at the habitat, 949 mm of it March to September and November to December. Wettest month May at 119 mm, driest January at 90 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1071 mm to 1510 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -8.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -8.5 °C, the absolute minimum -25.8 °C, about 65 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -0.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.2 °C to 3.8 °C), warmest day 31.0 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -8.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from -0 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1220 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 569 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -25.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost36.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-25.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 14–40RH 55–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 569 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 4–1311 / 7–1616 / 12–2021 / 18–2425 / 22–2829 / 27–3131 / 29–3330 / 28–3327 / 25–3021 / 18–2516 / 12–1910 / 6–14
Night °C-0 / -4–42 / -3–65 / 1–910 / 7–1315 / 12–1819 / 17–2222 / 19–2421 / 19–2418 / 15–2012 / 9–157 / 4–102 / -2–5
Rain mm90 / 68–14290 / 65–146111 / 87–137101 / 84–126119 / 93–147111 / 99–136115 / 91–13696 / 76–12597 / 79–11691 / 77–12499 / 79–129100 / 78–149
DLI16 / 14–1821 / 19–2228 / 26–2935 / 33–3638 / 37–3940 / 39–4139 / 38–4136 / 34–3830 / 28–3224 / 21–2517 / 14–1914 / 11–16
RH %58 / 56–6057 / 55–5956 / 55–5855 / 54–5758 / 56–6059 / 57–6159 / 57–6259 / 57–6158 / 57–6057 / 56–5858 / 57–5959 / 57–60

Each figure is the median across the 569 grid cells holding the 771 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1098:1948 (35.075, -82.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -25.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -8.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 569 distinct grid cells holding the 771 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1098:1948 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_-82.500, lapse-corrected -84 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 390 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Québec, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia· introduced: Germany
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker36.134, -79.158 · in the densest population, 576 records (70% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 828 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 101 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 548 km away. 57 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 828 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Podophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatumPodophyllum peltatum

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (7); (c) Thomas Koffel, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Podophyllum peltatum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Endophyte Fungal Isolates fromPodophyllumpeltatumProduce Podophyllotoxin
Amy L. Eyberger, Rajeswari Dondapati, John R. Porter (2006) · Journal of Natural Products
Podophyllotoxins: Current Status and Recent Developments
Yalamati Damayanthi, J. William Lown (1998) · Current Medicinal Chemistry
Secoisolariciresinol Dehydrogenase Purification, Cloning, and Functional Expression
Zhiqiang Xia, Michael A. Costa, Hélène C. Pélissier, Laurence Davin (2001) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
Aryltetralin lignans from Podophyllum hexandrum and Podophyllum peltatum
David E. Jackson, Paul M. Dewick (1984) · Phytochemistry
Back to Nature: Extinction of Medicinal Plants Threatens Drug Discovery
Vicki Brower (2008) · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Next Generation Sequencing in Predicting Gene Function in Podophyllotoxin Biosynthesis
Joaquim V. Marques, Kye‐Won Kim, Choonseok Lee, Michael A. Costa (2012) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
Etoposide: A Semisynthetic Epipodophyllotoxin Chemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Adverse Effects and Use as an Antineoplastic Agent
Joseph A. Sinkule (1984) · Pharmacotherapy The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy
Dirigent-mediated podophyllotoxin biosynthesis in Linum flavum and Podophyllum peltatum
Zhiqiang Xia, Michael A. Costa, John Proctor, Laurence Davin (2000) · Phytochemistry
An Investigation of the Antiviral Activity of Podophyllum peltatum
Elliott Bedows, George M. Hatfield (1982) · Journal of Natural Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 1 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.