Spring Nature Walks- Learn about Skunk Cabbage- One of First Spring Plants to Bloom- Buffalo, NY

Spring Nature Walks- Learn about Skunk Cabbage– One of First Spring Plants to Bloom.

Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is one of the first spring plants to bloom, often before the snow melts. It exhibits thermogenesis, or the ability to metabolically generate heat making the dirt around it about 20 degrees warmer than the air. It gets its name from the Skunk-like scented blooms it produces.It is said that Native Americans used skunk cabbage medically and the 19th century U.S Pharmacopoeia listed it as a drug to treat a handful of aliments from nervous disorders to dropsy (edema).