Skunk Cabbage/Swamp Lantern

Description:

Robust, hairless perennial 30-150cm tall, from fleshy, upright underground stems, with a skunky odour, especially when flowering. Leaves are in large basal rosettes, lance-shaped to broadly elliptic, often huge, thin, net-veined, tapering to short, stout, winged stalks. Flowers are greenish-yellow, numerous on a spike on a thick, fleshy axis which is hooded by a bright-yellow, large bract. Fruits are berry-like and pulpy, green to reddish, embedded in the fleshy flower spike.

Habitat:

Swamps, fens, muskeg, wet forest, mucky seepage areas, wet meadows, at low to middle elevations.