THE SKUNK CABBAGE 



Along the oozy margins of swampy streams, where 

 spring seems to detach the sluggish ice from the 

 softening mud, the Skunk Cabbage is boldly announc- 

 ing nature's revival. Handsome, vigorous, and 

 strong, richly coloured in purple, with delicate and 

 sometimes obscure markings of yellow, it rises clean 

 and unspotted from the weedy mud, a pointed, bulb- 

 like flower as large as a lemon. Its twisted, oval 

 contour and smooth - coloured surface suggest an 

 overgrown shell. But its chief claim to recognition 

 is its eagerness to greet the spring. In fact, it never 

 waits for the reviving warmth, nor even for the 

 inspiring spirit of the season of nature's renewal. In 

 late autumn it rises from the black or mossy damp- 

 ness to live safely under the snow and be first in 

 spring's revival. The great, round bud sitting com- 

 fortably on the thawing ooze or rising through the 

 lifted ice is not only a promise of spring, but an 

 assurance of nature's perpetual activity. 



The bulb-hke flower is soon attended by an 

 adjacent green cone, formed by a closely-folded leaf. 

 But before the leaf develops, the handsome purple 

 shell, which is thick and fleshy, withers and falls, 



