Mayapples can add contrast to a woodland garden

"Mayapple" seems an unlikely name for a plant that ripens in September and isn't an apple at all.

Mayapple blankets forest floors throughout eastern North America, and its contrasting growth habits and leaf shapes make it a nice companion to ferns in a woodland garden.

In spring, the mayapple's perennial rootstocks send up new stalks, each of which, when it reaches about 18 inches in height, is capped by just one or two leaves. The leaves are deeply lobed and held parallel to the ground. The rootstock spreads underground, so plants grow in ever expanding colonies. They add another layer to the forest, like green shields hovering above and protecting the earthen floor.

If your woodland garden is small, contain the wandering roots — in a bottomless pot, for example.

Another name for mayapple is American mandrake and, like the true mandrake plant, it has a root whose shape can be likened to a human figure.

All parts of the mayapple are toxic except for the ripe fruit, which looks more like a lemon than an apple.