Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

I have this damp and dark corner of the yard that gets dappled sunlight only part of the day. Once the trees are leafing there is even less light to work with. I thought this would be a good spot for some mayapple. I planted 3 specimens from the New England Wild Flower Society store, and within a week or so additional leaves appeared. The plants are somewhat timid still, but I hope they develop a network of rootstalks this year. I am not expecting flowers or fruits in year one.

Mayapple is a perennial herb with long rootstalks or underground stems, a native of the eastern United States and Canada, growing in shaded and moist woodlands. The entire plant attains a height of about twelve inches. I’ve seen established colonies, and they are simply breathtaking. The leaves are large, peltate, margin deeply cleft, from five to nine lobed, lobes pendant. It reminds me somewhat (on a much smaller scale) of the umbrella plant I observed in Costa Rica a few years back. Mayapple comes in two flavors (don’t all the good things?): The flowerless plants have only one leaf, while the flowering specimens always have two, which are opposite upon the stem apex, carrying the single flower in the split.

According to others (I have not observed or noticed, but then again I have allergies year round), the rhizomes, stems, and leaves have a very heavy, nauseous odor. Although my mayapple stand is too young this year, I could expect the flowers expand in May and the fruit to ripen in late summer. The fruit is a berry about the size of a plum. At first green, it changes to a soft yellow at maturity. It is not unlike a tomato in general appearance. When fully ripe it has a fragrant odor and tastes somewhat like the paw-paw. The fruit, and only the fruit, is edible. Everything else about the plant is poisonous! The fruit can be eaten raw, or cooked into a jam. Toxicity aside, the plant has many qualities biochemists would salivate over: The roots and rhizomes are used as a purgative. A resin from the plant, called padophyllin, has been used to treat venereal warts. The resin is extremely allergenic; it exhibits anti-tumor activity. In Appalachia, a tea of bark and roots is used to treat constipation. Externally, mayapple is used as a treatment for warts and skin eruptions. Internally, a very small amount of root may be used as a cathartic (laxative), a worm expellant, for jaundice, constipation, hepatitis, fever and syphilis.

I am hoping that Podophyllum peltatum will add character to an otherwise dark wasted corner of my yard.

Scientific name:	Podophyllum peltatum
Common name:	mayapple
Other name:	mandrake root
Bloom time:	mid spring
Color:	white or near white
Light requirements:	partial shade to full shade
Zone:	3 to 9
Soil:	acidic to neutral
Water:	moist
Origin:	eastern North America