the plant tissue and the podophyllotoxin retained therein is recovered by conventional means such as crystallization or solvent evaporation due to ease of separation from the hydrous plant material a solvent lacking miscibility in water would typically be preferred an alternate embodiment within the scope of the instant invention includes the use of a single step to simultaneously deglycosylate and extract the podophyllotoxin from the ground or disrupted plant material in this case the water and solvent are simultaneously made available to and admixed with the plant material subsequently the solvent with its entrained podophyllotoxin is then separated by conventional means this approach is preferentially limited to those solvents lacking miscibility in water so as to minimize inhibitory effects by the solvent upon the endogenous deglycosylation reaction the following examples are intended only to further illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims plant material specimens of podophyllum peltatum were harvested from wild accessions shortly after harvest leaves and rhizomes were separated dried at 40 u00b0 c and ground to a fine powder using a ksm 2b grinder braun lynnfield mass the powdered plant material was stored at room temperature protected from light and moisture in tightly closed glass or plastic bottles dried rhizomes of podophyllum emodii originating from two localities in.