A genus of six species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia (five species) and eastern North America (one species, Mayapple P. peltatum). They are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root.

The stems grow to 30–40 cm tall, with palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves up to 20–40 cm diameter with 3–9 shallowly to deeply cut lobes. The plants produce several stems from a creeping underground rhizome; some stems bear a single leaf and do not produce any flower or fruit, while flowering stems produce a pair or more leaves with 1–8 flowers in the axil between the apical leaves. The flowers are white, yellow or red, 2–6 cm diameter with 6–9 petals, and mature into a green, yellow or red fleshy fruit 2–5 cm long.

All the parts of the plant, excepting the fruit, are poisonous.

from: Wikipedia