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mayapple†
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
a North American herb, Podophyllum peltatum; also, its egg-shaped; yellow, edible fruit. See 1866 quote.
Quotations
1795
The May apples are now a great luxury; I have some preserved and the hurtleberries are ripe. Baron La Hontan says the root of the May apple (or, as the French call them citrons sauvages) is poisonous.
1866
. . . broad-leaved May-apple . . . [has] a delicious and refreshing wild fruit, of a deep yellow colour, and about the size of a bantam's egg, somewhat similar in appearance to the loquat. When stripped of its outer skin it presents a mass of juicy pulp and seeds, not unlike pine-apple in flavour. The plant is of low growth, and has deeply indented broad leaves and a simple white blossom.
1952
A few of the commoner species are mayapple . . . lily of the valley. . . .