Summary ⁹

Pollen high and no nectar

Important food for brood rearing [mid-Atlantic US]. Plant is able to generate heat (thermogenesis) and pollinators have been seen warming up in the spathe on cold days. (Sammataro, D. 2013)

Flowers inclosed by a great, thick leaf splotched with purple, brown and yellow-green with an opening on the side through which the bees can enter. The earilest source of pollen in many eastern states blooming from late Feburary to early April. (Lovell, H. B. (1966). Honey Plants Manual)

Symplocarpus foetidus, commonly known as skunk cabbage or eastern skunk cabbage (also swamp cabbage, clumpfoot cabbage, or meadow cabbage, foetid pothos or polecat weed), is a low growing, foul-smelling plant that grows in wetlands of eastern North America.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Clare Dellwo Cole, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Clare Dellwo Cole
2. (c) ashitaka, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/iwahige/8458228316/
3. (c) Dendroica cerulea, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/dendroica/32301311963/
4. (c) Biodiversity Heritage Library, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/26969908745/
5. (c) Katja Schulz, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/32977455422/
6. (c) User:SB_Johnny, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Symplocarpus_foetidus_001.JPG
7. W.J. Hooker, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Symplocarpus_foetidus_CBM.png
8. USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Symplocarpus_foetidus,_skunk_cabbage_spadix_inforescence_Helen_Lowe_Metzman_2017-03-16-18.37_(33551421416).jpg
9. Adapted by Megan W. from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symplocarpus_foetidus

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Go Botany
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• VASCAN by Canadensys
• World Flora Online

iNat Map