Perhaps there is not a more unsatisfactory figure in all 
the Fifty-four volumes of the Botanical Magazine than that 
of this singular plant at t. 836, under the name of Porsos 
fetida, so that a more perfect representation and fuller | 
description than are there given, cannot, we think, be 
unacceptable to our subscribers. It is a native of North 
America, from Canada to Carolina, according to Nurratu, 
and was introduced in the year 1735 to our gardens, where 
it proves perfectly hardy ; the flowers appearing above 
ground along with the earliest spring plants, and those 
are succeeded by the foliage. In the northern parts, 
whence I have received a fine specimen from my ines- 
timable friend Dr. Boorr, and in the middle of the United 
States, scarcely a meadow or swamp is found in which 
this vegetable may not be discovered at a distance, espe- 
cially in the spring season, by its large tufts of rank, 
crowded leaves. 3 
It has derived its name of Skunk Cabbage, or Skunk-weed, 
from the intolerably fetid smell, resembling that of the 
animal so called, or Viverra mephitis. Hence too, Professor 
Bicetow has called it Icropgs, from cris, a weasel, and ofa, 
to smell: but this change of name is quite needless, as the 
previously established one of Symprocarpus is not intended 
to express, as might at first be imagined, and as Dr. Bie- 
ELow supposed, that the fruit resembles that of a Sympro- 
cos, but simply the union of the fruit into one compact 
body. The odour which characterizes this plant is not 
peculiar to it. The fruit of some of the North American 
Currants, Dr. Bigexow tells us, especially the Rises ringens 
of Micuavux a species often met with on the high mountains 
of the Eastern States, emits, when bruised, a scent exactly 
similar. 
As in other plants of the same natural family, the roots 
abound in an acrid principle, even when dry, but which is 
readily dissipated by heat. In America, Dr. Curter of 
Massachusetts was the first to recommend the use of the 
pounded roots in asthmatic complaints, having found it 
eminently serviceable in his own case, and it has since been 
employed, not only in that afflicting disease, but in catarrh 
and chronic coughs, and with evident benefit. Dr. Bigztow, 
however, candidly observes, that it should be administered 
with much caution, as, when the stomach has been delicate, 
he has observed it to occasion vomiting when exhibited even 
in asmall quantity. A dose of thirty grains has been found 
not 
