Skunk cabbage flower
Typical skunk cabbage sighting in swampy habitat
Most cars come equipped with a defrost feature. Press a button, and the ice melts from the windows. A defroster is also standard equipment on one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring.
The plant is called Skunk Cabbage—an apt name for something with cabbage-like leaves and a very strong odor. How strong? People compare it to the smell of decaying flesh. But there’s a reason for the stench: it lures insects that pollinate the plant.
Skunk Cabbage grows in marshy woods throughout much of the country. Even snow won’t prevent the plant from blooming. That’s because Skunk Cabbage generates heat through its own cellular respiration, enough heat to melt surface snow and ice so that its shoots can reach daylight.
Skunk cabbage is starting to bloom— have you encountered (or smelled!) it as you’ve walked in the woods?