Flower for the Day Mayapple 4-14-25

This eponymous apple arrived a month early. The mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) are out in abundance.

They are also called American or wild mandrake and ground lemon. They are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root. The stems have palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves with deeply cut lobes. 

The flowers appear later and in order to see them you have to lift their skirt. I'll be lifting.

          Mayapple Flower

Beneath the twin umbrella leaves that fold

with gentle curvature like praying hands,
hides a single flower, white and gold,
like shreds of linen in Egyptian sands -
a mystery - the prelude to a treasure.
Approach its beauty like a priest in the night -
a priest who serves the doleful goddess Pleasure -
and kneel to see the blooming gold and white,
a living jewel fed by the ancient root,
and shrouded by the two dark-spreading veils.
In time, the flower will become a fruit.
But it is dark, and you'll  forget these trails
(although you whisper now that you will not).
The blissful gem will ripen, fall, and rot.

  alatos