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Skunk Cabbage plants literally melt the snow away from around them. Books state that they can maintain a temperature of 70F in their immediate vicinity! |
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Note the circle of melted snow around this plant. In southern Ontario these plants usually bloom around the last week of March. |
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And they can withstand being re-frozen into the ice, as we see here. |
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This is the Skunk Cabbage flower. They are very unusual flowers, and come in a variety of colours. |
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This one is a bit lighter. Skunk Cabbage usually grows in very wet areas. However, this one is in a bit of a drier place. |
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And a darker coloured flower. This outer shell is referred to as a "spathe". |
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A more squat shape. |
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Inside the flower body is what's called the "spadix". This is where the actual individual flowers are located, with pollen. |
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Another view. |
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And a closeup view of the spadix. Note the pollen grains. |
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Beside the flowers are the leaf buds. Both the leaf and flower buds are actually fully formed the previous fall. |
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The leaf bud is the light green spike. The flowers are the dark coloured bodies. |
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Seeds, at the end of August. |
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The flowers come out first, then the leaves follow, later. |
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The leaves are large and very green. They are what gives this plant its name, as they are very odiferous. When crushed they small like very powerful onions with a scent of skunk mixed in. |
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Skunk Cabbage plants often grow closely packed in an area. However, this doesn't stop other plants from growing alongside them, as the leaves are usually gone by summer. |
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At the end of April. |
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Range map for Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
PLEASE NOTE: A coloured Province or State means this species occurs somewhere in that Province/State.
The entire Province/State is coloured, regardless of where in that Province/State it occurs.
(Range map provided courtesy of the USDA website
and is displayed here in accordance with their
Policies)
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