Dilusdi
This beautiful wildflower is a perennial climbing vine that sprouts from a sturdy woody stem with herbaceous shoots that easily grow to a length of up to thirty feet. The distinctive flower blooms from June through early October and is pollinated by a variety of insects, esp. bumble bees.
The fleshy and fragrant fruits, known as Maypops, grow plentifully upon the vine throughout the summer months, maturing to the size of a hen's egg in August and September until the first frost of the year. Butterflies are highly attracted to the ripe Maypops, which they depend upon as larval food. Also attached to mature Maypops are humans, deer, wild turkeys, raccoons and many other creatures who enjoy and often compete for the tangy sweet furit and tendrils.
Cherokee Elders tell childhood stories of hunting and gathering Maypops, considering them a deletcable treat. "We used to really enjoy eating the insides, buy you had to make sure they were ripe to be good. I rmember when we used to walk to school and we would pick them and bust them open to suck on the seeds...Back in the depression we had to look to the woods for our sweets."
Native toSoutheastern parts of the Western Hemisphere, Cherokees have utilized this plant as a source of food and medicine to ease physical ailments, including restlessness, anxiety, nervous stomach, high blood pressure, ear infections and sympotoms of menopause.
Source: Cherokee Native Art and Plant Society, 2010
