Skunk Cabbage

These are not usually thought of as a blooming plant, but this time of year shows their long lasting spathes. This color will persist for weeks as the flowers inside (the spadix) blooms. Some are green/purple, this marbled coloring is my favorite color. The flower on the left is between 3 and 4inches/8-10cm tall.

The narrow slit entrance of this spathe can trap bees, and sometimes on warm days some of the flowers buzz as the honeybees try to get out after getting the pollen. The reward for the bee is that fresh pollen will encourage the queen to lay (bee grubs only eat pollen), and Skunk Cabbage is one of the first good source of pollen in the spring. The plant gets pollinated, and the flower develops into an otherworldly fruit the shape of a hockey puck (but much thicker) that is studded on the outside with black protuberances. The seeds are the size of small marbles (about 1/2 in/1.8cm), enveloped in white fleshy pulp that the animals eat. The seeds are discarded, and the plants can spread fast if given constantly wet conditions for the seed to germinate.

I have been actually looking for this plant for a few years. I have located it growing in natural settings here locally and I like the look of the plant as well as its attributes.

Your photos are superb. You don't by any stretch of the imagination know where I might be able to purchase seed or 3 small plants do you?

I just drove by one of our local "swamps" yesterday & looked for the telltale springtime sprouts, but nothing yet that I could tell.

Oh, & Equilibrium, there is a plant vendor that actually sells Skunk Cabbage, because a friend of mind recently purchased some. Would you like me to find out who he ordered them from?

PLEASE OH PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!

Seriously, I've seen them from time to time around here and have wanted three for myself to try growing over here for a while. I've never seen them offered for sale anywhere around here so if you could track down who had them, I'd be very appreciative. Must not be a big demand for them... must be the name because the plant is very interesting to me and I actually like the looks of it.

Thanks Breezie,
Lauren

More than you ever wanted to know about skunk cabbage.

http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic4/skunkcabbage.htm

Hey Dode... go here please-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/573925/

I' ve been looking for skunk cabbage for eons, too. I haven't found a place that sells it, either. I would like some for my bog garden. Dode

Equilibrium - my friend purchased his Skunk Cabbage from Lazy S's Gardens here in Barboursville, Virginia. Here's their link on Dave's Watchdog - they seem to have a good rating.

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/2390/

Oh my Breezie! Great link and thanks for letting me know. I don't need to order skunk cabbage any longer as someone is sharing a few with me as of yesterday BUT... I am over there looking at the website to the nursery you mentioned and WOW. I looked at their feedback and I gotta tell you that the one who posted a negative is out of line. I live in Illinois, we've had serious drouts and no way can a nursery be responsible for the weather conditions in the states they ship to. Regarding neutrals, generally I find that those are really negatives where somebody was riding the fence so I always read neutrals very carefully while "breezing" over positives but in this case, their neutrals were actually positives in my book. So, time for me to go back to looking at what they have to offer. I will definitely order from them if I find anything I want and Platanthera spp. comes to mind but there are a handful of others I'm looking for and I'm only still in the A's of their catalog. Oh what fun!

Thanks for the name of the nursery your friend bought his Skunk Cabbage at!

I believe that nurseries do not sell them because they are abundant in some states... Skunk cabbage grows like crazy in New England! We have a lot of swampy areas near my home, so we see a lot of this plant. We used to avoid stepping anywhere near it, as the smell would really stick to your shoes, clothing, etc. I am not certain if any has sprouted yet - usually around April or so, & they continue to grow through Summer, until the boggy areas dry out.
Please let me know if I can send some your way in Spring, if you don't wish to buy from a nursery... I really had no idea that this plant was in demand!
Julie

The plant is just so darn cute it is worth stepping around ;) I'm going to be receiving some from a generous DG member so I'm ok but it looks as if there is somebody else who is interested in the plant above.

I'm so glad I am not the only one who thinks skunk cabbage is a fun plant. Here's hoping my kids and dogs don't step in it--- ewww ick!

Speaking of skunk cabbage, I have been trying to get a couple of skunk cabbage for my rain garden. I know where there is a huge patch growing in a drainage ditch nearby. Each year there seems to be some obstacle there that keeps me from digging it up. I'd prefer to transplant in the early spring, before it blooms.

(I am friends with the local highway landscape officer and he has given me permission to dig in this ditch.)

Two years ago the road was under construction, the bridge was out and we could not drive through there. I just was a bit too self conscious to walk a half mile down the closed highway with a shovel and bucket...

Last year, my friend and I went to there to dig some. There had been a quick cold snap. Even so, the plants were still starting to sprout, but the water in the ditch had a paper thin layer of ice. We were just too whimpy to get our feet wet and frozen, so we decided to come back next week when it would be warmer.

We went back the following week. Sometime during that week, the highway crews and come through with their grade all and cleaned (graded out) the ditch, so any evidence of plants growing there was gone.

It should sprout back up this year and hopefully I can get out there with my shovel before its gone again.

It would be so much easier to order it out of a catalog, but that defeats my goal of growing local ecotypes as much as possible....

I have dug from ditches before. I can normally locate who has the ability to grant me permission to do so most of the time. I've dug up some nice local genotype Penstemon digitalis as well as a few other odds and ends. I'm really sorry you lost a chance to get some local genotype skunk cabbage. That's a big bummer.

Lauren

I really do wish that the wetland area of my property had them, but unfortunately not - although they are literally everywhere on everyone else's property - lol!!!

Even though it smells, skunk cabbage is a valuable plant to have. Because it blooms so early, its one of the first plants in the spring to attracts flies, and early spring birds are hungry from just returning from a very long trip. The birds really appreciate the flies :-)

I love seeing it coming up when I drive to town. I pass several cattle pastures with swampy areas, & you can tell that spring is on its way when you spot the bright green of the Skunk Cabbage coming up.

I agree breezy, the bright green shoots poking up through the snow are an early harbinger of spring :-)

For those of you that get permission to dig some plants, perhaps I can offer a few ideas to increase your chance of success. I have transplanted a few, and they are not easy to relocate. The roots are long and get stringy near the end. The plant itself sits quite low in the soil/muck. The roots go mostly down, but they do spread out some as they go down. For a mature plant, I would recommend about an 18 inch diameter circle around the plant. Dig as deep as you can. If you break off much of the roots, it really sets them back; some may not recover at all. I rarely try to move a mature plant anymore. If you can live with the wait, transplanting young plants is much easier, and you will have a higher rate of success.

In their new location, they like a damp, humus rich soil, nuetral to slightly acid. They seem to be at their best in light shade. They will take full sun, but only if the soil is constantly moist.

I think the odor issue is overrated. Bruised leaves do smell, but under normal circumstances odor is really not an issue.

Best of luck with your efforts, I think this is a very interesting plant.

Thanks for your comments northeastwisc! I'm planning on adding a few here to just such an area as you described.

I live in New England and Skunk Cabbage/Skunk Weed is rampant in the swampy areas around here. I will say the super large green leaves are pretty, but the smell is so overpowering you can smell it from the street when you drive past it. If any garden centers tried selling it around here, it would send the customers out the door laughing and never going back. I never forget to admire the leaves each year as the smell reminds me when they come up. Good luck growing them and I hope you enjoy them. :)

I second that sentiment! I do have fond memories from my childhood, playing near the streams, with the scent in the air. And of course, occasionally making the mistake of stepping on one - the smell never comes off your shoes!

Nope, none of you are going to dissuade me from planting skunk cabbage ;) If it smelled from here to kingdom come, I'd still plant it. Tee he, I'll make the kids take their shoes off before they come in the house just in case. Maybe I can put a sign up in the area where I plant them that says, "Caution, Skunk Cabbage Plants Grow Here". I could set out a little basket that had those old fashioned clothes pins for people to use on their noses!

Well, I'll tell you what Equil... I can't promise you anything, but I will check the marsh down the street and when I see the tell tale signs of Skunk Cabbage, I will try and dig one up and send it to you. The post office will wonder about me, lol.

Megan

Hey Megan, thank you so much. I've got skunk cabbage coming from another member some time this spring but I will take you up on your offer if something happens to the skunk cabbage he is sending me because... well... one should not go skunk cabbageless! Aside from that, I always love the reaction from my mailman. I ordered wettable Orthene recently and when she handed me the box she wanted to know what died in there. She laughed and told me that it was a shame it was sent USPS and not FedEx because I am very late on the delivery route and she had to ride around with my box all day. Her parting words to me were, "peeee uuuuuuu".

Oh, you are very welcome. Please dmail me if you decide to take me up on the offer.

Megan

I could see the skunk cabbage surrounding a pond, planted among Hosta, ferns, & Jack in the Pulpits... the color is very nice. I just never thought about putting one in my own yard! They don't smell if they are undisturbed - too much... They do have a lush look to them.

My husband was just standing over my shoulder reading the comment about how they don't smell too bad if they are undisturbed...too much.

Well, looks as if there are those who do not fully appreciate the finer things in life. He did like the mottled appearance of the plant and stated it reminded him of antique German Onionskin marbles but he sort of himmed and hawed after that. Perhaps Skunk Cabbage is a taste my husband has not acquired as of yet because he sort of asked me if this was really something we wanted in our yard. Yup, it is.

Here's a photo of an onionskin marble probably from the latter half of the 1800's-
http://www.prices4antiques.com/item_images/medium/03/24/28-02.jpg

And another from about the same time frame-
http://www.prices4antiques.com/item_images/medium/03/23/71-01.jpg

Here's another image although this one is a reproduction-
http://marblealan.com/hand/h43.JPG

Tell me that me and my husband are not the only ones who see the resemblance to onionskin marbles.

They are beautiful, aren't they? But I would not have made that comparison - just because I did not know what the onionskin marble LOOKED like!
We used to have a marble factory in a nearby town... a businees from the past. Doesn't everyone love marbles?

Tee he, my and my husband aren't the only ones!

Exoperidium:

Shower the DH with ginkgo fruit gélée, and he'll appreciate the skunk cabbages for the gardenia-wannabes that they are.

Allegedly I have a male ginkgo. Wasn't interested in pushing my luck.

Equil--if you remind me, I can get you unlimited amounts of seed later this summer from a local patch. They are easy to germinate. I gave away hundreds of seedlings a couple years back. The seed clusters look like hand grenades. My son and I go on hand grenade hunting expeditions!

A hand grenade expeditions, eh! Far be it for me to deprive you of this opportunity to collect some seed for me. I will remind you because I would like about 10 seeds of the Skunk Cabbage you have over there. I'd also like a few seedlings from your bumper crop of Bald Cypress. I'll send you a D-Mail so that I can start a reminder folder. I just recently learned how to create folders over in the D-Mails and I want to put you and Dax in the folder to help me generate a little neural cell activity at the right time.

This weekend I think I can get the Skunk Cabbage that was sent to me in the ground. Weather man is calling for temps in the 50's which might be just enough to thaw it out around here for me to get the Skunk Cabbage juveniles and seed in the ground that were sent to me about a week ago.

Would anyone in here like me to send you a skunk cabbage for postage? I didn't realize it, but they are growing near the stream in my back woods and I would gladly send them to anyone interested, just d-mail me.

Megan