The “ Skunk Cabbage.” 125 
spathe of a very pretty pale yellow, in shape intermediate 
between our common field arum and the lovely hot-house plant of 
the same family. The uncoloured spathe of the field arum 
remains lightly coloured till it begins to fade; the snowy spathe 
of the exotic arum is not only closed, but takes a beautiful back- 
ward curve. In the “skunk cabbage” the spathe opens so as 
fully to display the spadix, but always retains its inward curve. 
The common arum (Arum maculatum) of our fields is, as all 
botanists know, fertilised by small insects, which are imprisoned 
by a chevaux-defrise of down-turned hairs till the spathe fades and 
lets them escape ; the male and female flowers are in separate 
rows, the female (I believe) being in the lower row. I have 
been quite unable to perceive any insects, small or large, visiting 
the Skunk Cabbage. I conclude that it is fertilised by the wind ; 
the pollen flies in clouds at the slightest touch of the plant, as 
may usually be noticed in anemophilous flowers. There are 
evidently elaborate arrangements to secure cross fertilisation ; in 
fact I was at first under the impression that this arum was dieecious. 
At an early stage, when the spathe first opens, the spadix is green, 
and is covered with closely-fitting little green rosettes of four flat 
petals, with the pistil standing conspicuously in the centre, the 
viscous secretion on the stigma appearing like a minute dew-drop. 
There is not the slightest sign of stamens at this stage. I picked 
several arums in this condition, all alike, green, and without a sign 
of stamens. Then | picked other flowers which were conspicuously 
different. ‘hey were evidently at a more advanced age; the spathe 
was well opened and of a beautiful yellow, the spadix also yellow. 
‘The spadix. of some of these was covered with flowers having two 
stamens, but no sign of a pistil. I examined others still older, 
and found four stamens with anthers dehiscing ventrally, and 
forming a cup, below which, low down, one could see the pistil. 
One stamen, usually the lower one, never a top one, was 
‘enormously developed in some cases. Of course, I perceived the 
plant was not dizecious, and I again examined the green spadix 
with its pistil and four flat petals. I carefully raised the petals, 
which adhered so closely that it was difficult not to break it in trying 
to raise them, and under each lying the stamens. In the next 
stage two stamens rise and meet at the top so as to conceal the 
pistils ; in the last stage of flowering the four stamens stand round 
the greatly depressed pistil, superficially resembling the tubal 
flower of the Composite. 
The leaves are large and sheathing, resembling, in their glossy 
and beautiful green tint, the leaves of our common arum. ‘The 
plant has a very unpleasant smell ; hence, no doubt, it received a 
name so unpleasant to ears polite. 
