23 



Number of Herbariums 

 iJtates Reporting 



Tennessee i 



Iowa I 



Indiana i 



Ohio 2 



Michigan ... .2 



Wisconsin 3 



Minnesota i 



Nova Scotia 2 



Quebec i 



Amur I 



Japan i 



Symplocarpiis, like some other members of the Arum family, 

 grows best with a great deal of moisture. And it is in the swamps, 

 marshes and bogs or stream beds, that these sturdy plants are 

 usually found. 



General Study 



The skunk cabbage, or Symplocarpiis foetidus, is really our 

 earliest spring fiower. 



Odor of Plant. — Knuth in his classification of flower odors 

 describes it as nauseous and of mephitic, or viverrine, t>'pe. In 

 another case, I found it described as an odor that combines 

 the skunk, putrid meat and garlic. Still another writer describes 

 it as being a combination of a mustard plaster and raw onions. 

 To me the odor is not especially repulsive. It suggests that of 

 fresh cabbage with a slight suggestion of mustard. To some, 

 however, the smell is quite repulsive. 



The odor \aries in intensity and quality quite widely. Those 

 plants in which the stamens are ripe seem to have the stronger 

 odor. This is probably due to the greater maturity of the plant 

 at this stage of flowering and it has the added significance of 

 attracting a greater number of insect visitors. 



Origin of name. — The origin of its common name is not diffi- 

 cult to ascertain, for on crushing the plant immediately an odor 

 arises something like that of the cabbage with yet a suggestion 

 of the mephitic skunk. 



The generic name of the plant, Symplocarpiis was given to it 

 by Richard Anthony Salisbury, and is derived from tvvo Greek 



