SKUNKCABBAGE 



Spathyema foetida (Linnaeus) Rafinesque 



This first plant to flower in spring is easily found in swampy places, 

 where the richly colored, hooded spatheis seen pushing itswaythrough 

 the moist earth, sometimes before the ground is free of snow. When 

 one peeps inside the hood, the small flowers are found dotting the 

 spadix more or less regularly. The rank insistent odor attracts many 

 flesh flies. The leaves come through the earth before the flower has 

 faded, and grow rapidly into showy, light green clumps, from one to 

 three feet high. At this time the odor is very strong. The fruit ripens in 

 September. 



Like most of the members of the Arum Family, the skunkcabbage 

 is rather southern in its distribution, ranging from Missouri to Florida 

 and northward, locally reaching Minnesota and Maine, or even Nova 

 Scotia. 



The specimen sketched was found along Piney Branch, Washing- 

 ton, District of Columbia. 



PLATE 37 



