As the name Symplocarpus Foetidus implies, the Skunk Cabbage gives off a bad smell especially when the leaves are bruised or injured.

The greenish-yellow leaves of the Skunk Cabbage can be long and oval, sometimes heart shaped and have smooth edges. They grow to a height of 3 feet and are often 2 feet individually in length. When first emerging they are tightly wrapped as if in a scroll.

The flowers appear before the leaves towards the end of winter, and are about 1 inch long. The flowers are small and yellow in color enclosed in a leaf bract, which grows to a length of up to 6 inches, and is colored purple and green.

During the growing period of the Skunk Cabbage much heat is generated by the plant, and this heat along with the smell of the plant attract many flies which assist in the pollination process.

The green egg shaped fruit forms. The fruit is low lying on the ground and has many strange ripples on its surface, turning black in color as it matures.

The Skunk Cabbage will grow readily in wet woodland or swampland and is very similar to a plant called False Hellebore, which has no bad smell. However the plants grow in harmony side by side despite the foul smell of the skunk Cabbage!!

Parts of the plant are contain toxic oxalates and the plant is named as being poisonous on most poisonous plant lists.

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