Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus
Skunk cabbage is one of the first plants to bloom in spring. Its flowers are often partly or wholly hidden beneath last year's fallen leaves.

Skunk Cabbage is a small genus which consists of only two species with a disjunctional distribution in North America and Northeastern Asia. They are ideal bog plants with huge leaves and very showy spathes from large perennial rhizomes.

Skunk Cabbage Promises Spring
Full of history and lush beauty, the Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton Americanus) is one of the first signs of spring in the BC coastal forest.
The Beauty of Shrubs With Colourful Winter Bark ...

Skunk cabbage, found in both E Asia and E North America, is one of the most abundant and earliest-blooming northern wildflowers.

American Skunk Cabbage [English]: Lysichiton americanus
American Skunkcabbage [English]: Lysichiton americanus
American Skunkcabbage [English]: Lysichiton americanum
American Slender Grass [English]: Digitaria filiformis ...

Lysichiton (Skunk cabbage) - poisonous; skin & eye irritant
Mandragora (Mandrake) - poisonous
Mandrake - see Mandragora
Marvel of Peru - see Mirabilis
May apple - see Podophyllum
Mezereon - see Daphne ...

The arum family contains about 1500 species, including skunk cabbage, jack-in-the-pulpit, golden club (Orontium aquaticum), and calla lily.

There are often arguments over Veratrum tenuipetalum's common name: Some people call it "Skunk Cabbage". But it is not related to the Skunk Cabbage of the East.

The yellow flower looks similar to many in the family, such as our much-maligned Northwest native skunk cabbage, Lysichiton americanus.

Begonia Lysichiton (Skunk Cabbage)
Brunnera (Bugloss) Mertensia (Virginia Bluebells)
Caladium Monarda (Beebalm)
Cypripedium (Lady's Slipper Orchid) Polemonium (Jacob's Ladder)
Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) Polygonatum (Solomon's Seal) ...

In Seattle it is found almost only in mucky soils, sun or often shaded, along with buttercups, skunk cabbages, salmonberries, bigleaf avens and American Brooklime. Late summer and fall is the best time to find it.

Chinese cabbage, pak choi (Brassica rapa pekinensis)
Skunk cabbage (Lysichiton camtschatcensis)
Related Topics
Fruits and Vegetables
Soil
Mulches ...

Lysichiton camtschatcensis
(White skunk cabbage) Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones:
1 ...

There are clusters of large, broad, alternate leaves that to some people resemble garden cabbage or skunk cabbage. These leaves are parallel-veined and pleated like a skirt.

Clumpfoot Cabbage - Symplocarpus foetidus
Meadow Cabbage - Symplocarpus foetidus
Skunk Cabbage - Symplocarpus foetidus
Swamp Cabbage - Symplocarpus foetidus ...

(Foxglove) Gentiana (Gentian) Geranium (True geranium) Helleborus (Winter rose) Hemerocallis Hepatica (Liverwort) Heuchera (Coralbells) Hosta (Plantain lily) Iberis (Evergreen candytuft) Iris Ligularia Lunaria (Moneyplant) Lysichiton (Skunk cabbage) ...

Skunk cabbage flowers are a mix of red, brown, and green - the ones shown are on the redder side of the norm. This was the first thing I saw blooming in '98 (during a warm spell in early Febuary!). (Photographed in PA) ...

rocky to moist depressions and ravines; it generally occurs on sites that have abundant soil nutrients. It often occurs together with Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock, as well as plants such as salal, Oregon-grape, or skunk cabbage.

canadensis), Naked Mitrewort (Mitella nuda), Fringed Polygala (Polygala pauciflora), Arrow-leaved Tearthumb (Polygonum sagittatum), Pickerel Reed (Pontederia cordata), Arrowheads (Sagittaria spp.), Bur Reeds (Sparganium spp.), Skunk Cabbage ...

See also: Cabbage, Green, Lily, Evergreen, May