The plant that thaws the earth

Skunk cabbage is most noticeable in early spring when its tropical-looking leaves expand in stream-beds and ditches throughout the northeast. These water-loving plants will grow in muddy bogs, swamps, wet woodlands and streambeds. They prefer shade and wet soils, though they cannot tolerate having their roots wet for prolonged periods.

Skunk cabbage blooms in the very early spring – in Maine, often in April – which makes their flowers among the first to be available for early pollinators. These extraordinary plants create their own heat as a by-product of cellular respiration in a process called thermogenesis. The energy released from their large rhizomatous roots can reach 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, thawing the earth around them, and making it possible for their stalks, leaves and flower buds to push up through the earth.

Very unusual in appearance, the flowers of skunk cabbage also produce a strong fetid smell much like rotten flesh. This attracts flies, gnats, beetles, native bees and other insects. It is to their advantage to attract these pollinators early in the growing season, when there is little competition with other flowering plants. There just aren’t very many plants capable of flowering in April in Maine!