THE MUCH-DESPISED SKUNK CABBAGE EARLIEST OF SPRING FLOWERS 227 



ally, considerable spotting is in evidence, the colors being 

 the same as those already mentioned. As will be noted 

 from the figures, they are ovate in form and incurved, 

 especially when full grown. 



Alice Lounsberry in her "Guide" makes a somewhat 

 unusual statement in regard to the skunk cabbage when 

 she says : "Children and at an early age it may be that 

 the nostrils are not fully developed are particularly 

 fond of searching for this 

 plant and kicking it over, 

 when its odor becomes 

 much more intensified" (p. 

 44 J. In those parts of the 

 country where skunk cab- 

 bages are found, there is 

 no need of "searching" for 

 them, as they are abundant 

 in any boggy area of any 

 extent ; all one has to do is 

 to walk direct to such a 

 place. 



More to the point are 

 some of the observations of 

 F. Schuyler Matthews on 

 this much maligned plant. 

 After referring to its earl}' 

 appearance in the spring, 

 and its being the sole rep- 

 resentative of its genus, he 

 goes on to state that its 

 leathery spathe is closely 

 coiled, being of a purple- 

 red color, streaked and 

 blotched with green, all of 

 which attracts many in- 

 sects, and a host of which 

 meet their death in the 

 water collected in the 

 spathe, or in the recesses 

 of the still unopened leaves 

 and leaf stalks. To quote 

 him, verbatim : "The stout 

 spadix is compactly set 

 with perfect lavender-flesh- 

 coU;red flowers, i. e., flow- 

 ers with stamens and pis- 

 til. The conspicuous anth- 

 ers are a greyish straw color. The fruit is the enlarged 

 and fleshy spahx enclosing round, bullet-like seeds im- 

 mediately beneath its surface which ripen in September. 



"The leaves will at first be found in a compactly coiled, 

 pointed spike, close beside the ruddy spathe. Later, 

 when the coarse, i 2 feet long, cabbagelike leaves are 

 unfolded, the origin of the common name becomes evi- 

 dent. The odor of the flower is imitative of decaying 

 flesh ; but it is not wholly bad. It reminds one of the 

 smell of a mustard plaster and raw onions ; the cut stem 

 decidedly suggests the latter" (p. 14). 



Speaking of the fleshy spadix, which is the fruit of this 



plant, it may be said that it is entirely covered with the 

 flowers when they are blooming ; later, the former comes 

 to be a dark, purplish green, supported on a lengthy 

 stalk. As the fruit gets ripe, it shortly decays and drops 

 off. Previous to this fate, the swollen spadix is not a 

 very attractive looking mass, being soft and spongy, and 

 encased in a skin-like layer, beneath which the seeds are 

 to be found. When fully ripe, these drop to the ground 



and germinate, producing, 

 in due course, the plants of 

 the following spring. 



At a short distance, some 

 of the larger spathes of the 

 skunk cabbage by no means 

 look unlike an egg-shaped 

 lump of partially dried 

 beef, especially in the mat- 

 ter of color. As its decay- 

 ing meat odor comes to be 

 perceived, this resemblance 

 appears to be enhanced, 

 and it requires no special 

 stretch of imagination to 

 fancy that it is a piece of 

 semi-decayed meat that one 

 sees and smells. 



Little wonder, then, that 

 many insects are attracted 

 by these very suggestions 

 of carrion. There are not 

 a few species of flies that 

 are irresistibly attracted by 

 foulness of this character. 

 What is still more remark- 

 able, however, is the fact 

 that plants like the skunk 

 cabbage are almost entirely 

 dependent on such insects 

 for the distribution of their 

 pollen, in that fertilization 

 may follow and the species 

 be perpetuated. Such a 

 dependency on the one 

 hand, and the necessity for 

 existence upon the other, 

 certainly offers to students 

 of the law of organic evo- 

 lution a very hard nut to crack. For a plant to evolve 

 in such a manner as to not only look like a piece of beef 

 carrion, but to strongly suggest the same through hav- 

 ing an odor resembling spoiled meat the combination 

 making for the perpetuation of its kind is truly a most 

 remarkable phenomenon. The carrion flower, described 

 in a previous issue of American Forestry, is another 

 interesting example of such reciprocity of requirements ; 

 and often, in either instance, the flies come to these 

 plants from long distances, as has been proved by numer- 

 ous observers. Another very extraordinary thing about 

 all this is the fact that the introduced hive bees from 



GROWTH OF THE PLANT 



Fig. 4 Here we have the opening up of the first leaf in a skunk cabbage 

 plant. Note the beautiful venation of this elegant green leaf, so different 

 from the conventional pattern in ordinary leaves. In the foreground there 

 are to be seen many smaller plants of the same species; they, too, will 

 unfold in a few days. 



