Skunk Cabbage: February

The Eastern Skunk Cabbage is an odd plant. They are found in shaded streams and scrub swamps in the woodlands of New England. They are capable of generating body heat, to prevent their tropical-looking sprouts from freezing in our Massachusetts winters. They sprout brown flowers, and instead of smelling floral, making nectar, and attracting bees, these flowers attract flies and flesh eating dermestid beetles with a smell that mimics a rotting carcass. I think that's actually their reason for blooming so early: they don't need to wait for the usual insect crowd, they're just trying to catch the wave of scavenging invertebrates that thrives as animals bodies are revealed by the melting snow. This is what they look like around this time of year:

Found At Hopbrook Wetlands Reserve In Sudbury, MA

Found In a Muddy Area Near the Sudbury River, Framingham, MA

Found In The Stream Near Framingham High School

I would love to dig one up, bring it indoors, and let it develop and bloom in my room, but the root systems they grow are so wide that I can't dig one up. I guess they need them to stay anchored in ecosystems with nothing but soft clay, mud, and silt. I will do an update next month, when the flowers open up.