Habitat: Irregularly flooded, tidal fresh marshes and swamps; inland marshes, shrub swamps, and forested wetlands.

Flowering Period: February to mid May. Foul-smelling Spathe and Spadix sprout before leaves emerge.

 

 

 

  

Skunk Cabbage is the first plant to flower in spring on the South Fork. As the name implies all parts of the plant have a noticeable skunk-like odor. The flowering parts, which consist of a hood-like structure, called the spathe and the flowering stalk called the spadix often emerge while there is still ice and snow on the ground. Skunk Cabbage has the remarkable ability of producing its own heat by combining oxygen with sugars that are present in the starch that is stored in the roots of the plant. The temperature inside of the spathe that covers the spadix is on average 36 degrees warmer than the outside air both day and night. This warm temperature and the fetid odor of the plant attract insects like carrion flies, which enter the spathe through a small opening and pollinate the tiny flowers that cover the spadix.