Podophyllum, a genus of plants comprising two species, variously ranked by botanists in the natural order Ranunculaceæ, or made the type of a small distinct order, Podophyllæ or Podophyllaceæ, differing from Ranunculaceæ chiefly in having a solitary carpel. The genus Podophyllum has three sepals, six to nine petals, twelve to eighteen stamens, a broad round stigma, seated almost on the top of the germen, and a many-seeded berry. P. peltatum is a perennial plant, common in North America, growing in moist woods and on the shady banks of streams, and is known as May-apple, because it flowers and ripens its fruit very early in summer; also as Hog-apple and Wild Lemon. The fruit may be eaten, but is not agreeable. All the other parts are actively cathartic. The other species (P. emodi) is a native of the Himalayas, and has the same medicinal properties, but in 1889 was shown to yield three times as much of the valuable resin as the American plant.