Eastern Skunk Cabbage

Description:

This plant has large, thick, bright green leaves. The flowers are contained in a spathe, which is fleshy and reddish in coloration with a yellow/greenish patterning.

Habitat:

Wet forests; sometimes found in wetlands.

Notes:

This is a fascinating plant. In summer it stores carbohydrates in a large fleshy root. In spring, it begins to metabolize this starch heating up the frozen ground around itself and sending the flower through the melting ground. But it doesn't stop here. As long as the ambient temperature is above freezing this amazing plant may increase the temperature inside the flower spathe by an additional 40 degrees F. The flower attracts pollinating flies in two ways: by generating warmth for the cold-blooded flies and offering a warm refugium in the cold weather, but also by smelling like rotting meat. The flies, in turn, pollinate the skunk cabbage. An amazing plant! It's a plant that I seek out each spring; a promise of warmer weather when Minnesota's winter still seems to be in control.