How to Identify Skunk Cabbage

Take a walk in the woods on a late winter or early spring day and you may be fortunate to stumble upon a very unusual wildflower. Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), as its name implies, features a strange fragrance for a wildflower and is equally curious in appearance. Here's how to identify this odoriferous oddity.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wildflower sample

1. Note the time of year the plant is observed. While other wildflowers are waiting for the warm, spring sun, skunk cabbage generates its own heat and is one of the first flowers to bloom, usually from February to April.

2. Observe the growing location. Skunk cabbage is usually found in moist, woodland areas, by the side of streams and ponds and marshlands. It is often hidden by fallen leaves. The plant's heat, however, will melt the snow around it so small patches of melted snow are a good sign of the skunk cabbage.

3. Examine the shape and color of the wildflower. The skunk cabbage is a comprised of a greenish-yellow and maroon streaked and spotted spathe, a leaf-like sheath that forms a hood. The spathe provides protection for the spadix, the fleshy spike that is covered with the tiny, petal-less flowers. Later in the spring, large green leaves emerge are about the size and shape of rhubarb or cabbage leaves.

4. Estimate the size of the wildflower. The skunk cabbage grows to a height of 1 to 2 feet. The skunk cabbage does not have a typical flower. They are tiny, flowers without petals that are located on the spathe within the hooded spadix. The complete "flower" structure may grow to 3 to 5 inches.

Tips & Warnings

• The dark color of the skunk cabbage flower and its odor is key to attracting the flies, gnats and bees that are necessary for its pollination.
• The skunk cabbage smell is a cross between bad onions with a dash of skunk. Fortunately, it is usually only noticeable to humans when the leaves are crushed.
• Describing the skunk cabbage can be tricky, but if you think of the plant in the old movie, "Little Shop of Horrors," you are pretty close to understanding its appearance.