Genus (Symplocarpus)
The common Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus fœtidus) although regarded by many only with disgust, has one claim that cannot be disputed, that of being our first flower to bloom each year. It is not uncommon to find them with the shell-like spathe above ground and the pollen fully ripened even in January, although from the latter part of February to the first of May is the usual flowering season.
The flower spathes show a great diversity of coloring according to their age, ranging from a pale green sparingly streaked with brown to an almost solid purple tone.
The flowers are small, perfect, and closely crowded on the thick fleshy spadix, concealed or partially so by the large, thick purple and green stained hood. The leaves appear after the flower has withered or commenced to do so; they are bright green, large, cabbage-like and strongly veined; quite handsome, in fact. These plants range from N. S. to Minn., and southward, chiefly in boggy ground.