From April through July, look for plants about one foot tall which resemble miniature “umbrellas” (less than a foot in diameter). If you are hiking in May look for a white flower at the juncture of the two leaves. (Single-leaved plants don’t produce a flower or fruit.) You are looking at a popular plant called the “May apple,” or Podophyllum peltatum. As spring becomes summer, the May apple flower will become a yellowish, egg-shaped fruit, about two inches in diameter, referred to as its “apple.” May apples tend to grow around oak trees, and thus May apples and oak trees are typical members of the woodlands community. Look around. Do you see any oak trees? May apples thrive when exposed to tannic acid, found in oak leaves and acorns. This relationship is an example of commensalism, in which one species benefits from another while providing neither harm nor benefit to its benefactor.