Skunk cabbage: The first wildflower of a Connecticut spring

April 13, 5:02 PMConnecticut Nature ExaminerJeff Serena

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Newly leafed-out skunk cabbages in a Connecticut
wetland.

It’s not likely to become anyone’s state flower, but the Eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) has a peculiar charm to go with its famously unpleasant odor. Connecticut’s earliest flowering native plant heralds spring with a flush of green in bogs and wooded lowlands, on streamsides and along the edges of vernal pools. It’s a handsome perennial uniquely adapted to early blooming in its wet habitat.

The skunk cabbage ranges from the Canadian Maritimes west through southern Quebec and Minnesota, and south to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is also found in northern China, Japan, and parts of Siberia. Its leaves die back every year, but in late winter the plant’s large rhizome puts up new growth. It can do this even through frozen ground. The skunk cabbage is thermogenic—one of a small group of plants capable of producing its own heat. Generating temperatures as much as 40F higher than the ambient temperature, the skunk cabbage literally melts the frozen earth and ice around it. The flowers appear first, a tight cluster of tiny yellow blooms called a spadix, encased in a hood called a spathe. The spathe is a thick, leathery armor of specially adapted leaves, maroon in color and usually mottled with green or yellow. The plant’s thick, green leaves appear about two weeks later; their large size—up to two feet long—and heavy ribbing account for the second word in the skunk cabbage’s common name. The skunk, however, comes from the plant’s intense odor, which commingles the smell of skunk musk with the fetid odor of decay. Flies and some other insects are attracted to the smell, and likely play a part in pollination. The odor may also serve to deter predators.

The skunk cabbage is not poisonous to the touch, but the rhizome and probably the leaves are moderately toxic if eaten. In small quantities, skunk cabbage is said to have medicinal qualities, and has been used under the name dracontium in traditional medicine to treat respiratory illnesses, nervous disorders, and other diseases.

In Connecticut, look for the skunk cabbage in almost any freshwater, wooded wetland. They’re those spashes of bright green on an otherwise drab, early spring canvas.

For more info: 

USDA skunk cabbage information