Symplocarpus foetidus

Watching Wildflowers

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Everyone loves wildflowers.  Several weeks ago, when a wildflower “super bloom” occurred in a small section of southern California desert, tourist volume swelled to gargantuan size and the internet went crazy.  It is a reassuring sign that we have not completely lost touch with the natural world. Despite all that love, wildflowers are disappearing in … Read more

Skunk Cabbage

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If Eastern skunk cabbage—Symplocarpus foetidus—were a person, you would avoid him.  Inactive for part of the year, skunk cabbage comes alive in late winter.  It never looks terribly attractive and most of the time it smells awful enough to justify one of its nicknames, “polecat weed.”  People and even animals tend to avoid the plant … Read more