Berberidaceae
Barberry Family
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum).
Nothing else in the woods looks remotely like this
charming plant. Each plant carries one or two
umbrella-like leaves. If it has two leaves, it plans
on blooming; one leaf means it will not bloom this
year, and we have known whole patches where every
plant stubbornly refused to bloom for years on end.
The plant is poisonous, but when the fruit is ripe it
is no longer poisonous enough to worry about and has a
pleasant flavor, according to woodland lore.
Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides).
A very strange-looking plant when it begins to bloom;
the plant is almost eggplant-purple, and only
half-formed, but already bearing brown flowers. Later
the leaves will turn green and the flowers will turn
yellowish, and it will look much more like a normal
plant.
Berberis vulgaris
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii).
A foreign invader; it makes a fine hedge, but it is
beginning to show up where it is not wanted. It forms
dense patches of thorny impenetrability in the woods.
The red-leaved form is rarely found in the wild, but
it does show up occasionally in the wild woods, where
it is as little wanted as the green-leaved version.
The little greenish-yellow flowers are charming,
however.