Growing up as a homeschooler, I remember lessons changing course very quickly based on the interests my siblings and I expressed to our mother (our primary teacher). I always appreciated the flexibility to learn what I wanted.
So, when my daughter (also homeschooled) said she wanted to learn about a new animal each week, we immediately headed to the library.
She picked turtles to learn about first, and we grabbed an armful of books about these reptiles.
We both learned new things about turtles — such as they evolved around the time of the first dinosaurs, that the smallest species is only a few inches long and that some have lived over 200 years.
A line in one of the books particularly caught my interest — it said Eastern box turtles love to eat mayapple fruit.
Having seen both turtles and mayapples in my local environment, of course I wanted to learn more. We finished the library books, and I turned to the world wide web to further my education in my new interest.
Once past their juvenile stage, box turtles have a good chance of living to a ripe old age. They commonly live about 50 years and many live over 100.
Humans pose the biggest threat to box turtles; removal from the wild as pets, lawn mowers, cars and fragmented habitat are all responsible for declining Eastern box turtle populations.
Although these reptiles share a lot of traits with tortoises, they are members of the American pond turtle family.
They spend most of their lives on land, hibernate through the colder months, and eat a bit of everything.
Mayapple fruit are a tasty treat for box turtles.
Mayapples, native plants in the Podophyllum genus, are the only species of this genus found outside of Asia. Mayapples grow to be a foot or so tall, with broad leaves reminiscent of an umbrella.
Plants with two leaves may flower. The flower is white, and hangs down beneath the leaves, and may turn into fruit.
This is one of those plants that amaze me in terms of its survival. It flowers and requires pollination to bear fruit, but has no nectar, so pollinators quickly learn not to bother visiting.
Apparently, research indicates that if other wildflowers bloom around mayapples, bees are more likely to stop by the latter anyway.
Producing a flower and fruit takes lots of energy for this plant. Flowering and fruiting plants have higher chances of dying, although they can live long enough to flower multiple times.
There is yet another challenge. Mayapples in a single patch are most likely genetically identical, growing from the same underground rhizome. They do not self-pollinate, so to set fruit, this plant relies on bees to visit multiple patches.
When pollination happens, a seed has the highest chance of germinating after it has passed through the digestive system of a box turtle.
Mayapples are toxic — except for the ripe fruit. The leaves die back leaving the small lemon-shaped fruit dangling from the stem. The fruit remains poisonous until fully ripe, with translucent yellow skin and ready to fall off or already fallen off the stem.
I’ve never tried mayapples; I get nervous about eating poisonous things. I don’t trust myself enough to ensure they’ve reached the right stage.
Maybe someday I’ll gather the courage to try one or two (I also read eating too many of the ripened fruit causes gastro-intestinal issues), but meantime I will enjoy seeing the pretty plants, and leave their fruits for the turtles.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County. Email columns@dominionpost.com.
