Skunk Cabbage

Today we were reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Skunk Cabbage was mentioned as a medicinal remedy for asthma and then I remembered that skunk cabbage grew at our local nature center so we set out to find some. This is what we found:

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) prefers wetlands and is considered a harbinger of spring. At first only the flower shows above the mud with stem still buried beneath the ground. The mottled purple part of the plant is called the spathe. The knoblike structure is called the spadix.

The skunk cabbage gets its name from the pungent odor that it gives off. The odor serves to attract pollinators such as bees and flies while also deterring animals that might think about eating it.