Coming to a naturalized area near you - the first flower of spring!

Eastern Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus



Now I am sure you are scratching your head wondering why I would list skunk cabbage when there are sooo many more pleasing flowers of spring? Well, this blog is also an educational blog, so I am going to teach you about this unusual flower and try to get you to say "WOW" or "HMMMM".

As some point in our lives, we have all seen what skunk cabbage looks like. Its leaves are large, 16-22 inches long and 12-16 inches wide. It flowers early in the year; the flowers are produced in a 2-4 inches long spadix contained within a spathe, 4-6 inches tall and mottled purple in colour (actually very attractive if you get close and look!). It flowers in the early spring, when only the flowers are visible above the mud, with the stems buried below and the leaves emerging later. The rhizome is often 12 inches thick.

Breaking or tearing a leaf produces a pungent odor, hence the'skunk' in the common name. The plant is not poisonous to the touch. Though unpleasant, the smell is not harmful. The foul odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies, stoneflies, and bees. The odor in the leaves may also serve to discourage large animals from disturbing or damaging this plant which grows in soft wetland soils. I have seen where deer have eaten the flowers when nothing else was around, but hey, deer will eat anything when there is nothing else to eat!

Now here is the really cool part of this plant. Skunk cabbage is notable for its ability to generate temperatures of up to 15-35°C above air temperature by cyanide resistant cellular respiration in order to melt its way through frozen ground, placing it among a small group of plants exhibiting thermogenesis. Although flowering while there is still snow and ice on the ground it is successfully pollinated by early insects that also emerge at this time. Some studies suggest that beyond allowing the plant to grow in icy soil, the heat it produces may help to spread its odor in the air. Carrion-feeding insects that are attracted by the scent may be doubly encouraged to enter the spathe because it is warmer than the surrounding air, fueling pollination.

Finally, for my last "WOW" fact, Eastern Skunk Cabbage has contractile roots which contract after growing into the earth. This pulls the stem of the plant deeper into the mud, so that the plant in effect grows downward, not upward. Each year, the plant grows deeper into the earth, so that older plants are practically impossible to dig up. They reproduce by hard, pea-sized seeds which fall in the mud and are carried away by animals or by floods.

So next time you walk through a woodland area and see skunk cabbage growing, don't go "eeww", teach your friends and family the uniqueness of this plant and how it isn't your normal everyday spring flower!