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"In this part of Ohio, it's a rare plant," explains Great Parks Interpreter Paul Seevers during a recent guided, off-trail hike at the undeveloped Richardson Forest Preserve. "It's just not that common, we don't have a lot of wetlands. ... In other places it is very common."
Skunk cabbage, or
Symplocarpus foetidus to use its scientific name, is called the "first flower of spring." Its reddish-purple bloom emerges first, followed by green cabbage-like leaves by late spring.
"What's amazing about it is what it does that kind of defies what we think of as a plant. For instance, it produces heat," Seevers explains. "It stores starch in its roots and it's able to burn that through, basically, cellular respiration. It's able to keep its temperatures up in the 70s, maybe 80s, even when it's below freezing outside."