Stop and Smell the Skunk Cabbage

—Courtney Turner, Environmental Educator

This is the time of year when everyone is ready for spring. Spring weather, spring break, and (especially those of us at RNC) spring flowers. Many of you may not be familiar with one of the first flowering plants to emerge in Rye each spring--skunk cabbage.

As its name suggests, skunk cabbage has a strong and pungent odor, however, this plant is remarkable for more than its scent alone. Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is an herbaceous flowering perennial found in woodlands, wetlands, and near streams. Its flowers emerge from the snow in late winter and these flowers are thermogenic, meaning that they are capable of producing their own heat. In fact, the temperature inside the flower may be as much as 25 degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding air and can even melt the surrounding ice and snow!

Skunk cabbage flowers produce enough heat to melt the surrounding snow. (Photo: urbanecologycenter.org)

This fascinating adaptation enables the plant to get a head start on spring when the weather is still too cold for other herbaceous plants to survive and has the added bonus of attracting pollinating insects. The flowering structure is similar to that of a calla lily or jack-in-the-pulpit with tiny flowers growing on a spadix and surrounded by a modified leaf, known as a spathe. The spathe traps heat inside, offering early pollinators a warm resting place. These insects are not only attracted to the heat contained by the spathe, but also to the spathe's vibrant purple color and the aroma of the flowers (actually, mildly floral and not "skunk"-like at all). On warm days late in winter, skunk cabbage attracts flies and honey bees who visit the plants to forage for much-needed nectar and meanwhile, warm their bodies before returning safely home.

The purple spathe protects the flowers inside and creates a warm resting place for visiting insects.

So as you celebrate the official start of spring this Friday, take a moment to appreciate skunk cabbage's incredible thermogenic flowers. Stop and smell if you dare!