Signs of skunk cabbage mean spring is in the air

The world outside is cold and you've got the winter blues. Think spring. Think skunk cabbage!

Skunk cabbage is the earliest of the early spring wildflowers in Kane County, blooming through March. It's also the weirdest wildflower in our spring flora. Its surreal appearance, strange ecology, and fascinating folk uses have all the makings of a botanical tall tale. Only this yarn is for real.

The story of skunk cabbage begins in East Asia some 30 million years ago. But East Asia wasn't exactly East Asia back then. It was part of a giant land mass called a supercontinent. Eventually, the land masses separated and drifted. As all this was happening, skunk cabbage and many other plants got a free ride and ended up thousands of miles from their families of origin.

Skunk cabbage now lives in temperate Asia as well as the eastern United States. It's a denizen of swamps, seeps, and wet woodlands. The first hint of the plant comes from a thick root stock in the mucky soil. Apparently oblivious to the lingering snow of late winter, the root sends up a pointed, fleshy structure called a spathe. The spathe sports a mottled pattern of greenish-purplish-yellowish brown, quite striking against a backdrop of white snow.

Soon, flowers emerge under the protective covering of the spathe. Numerous flowers huddle together on a structure called a spadix. They're rather blah little blobs of dull maroon. And they stink. The stench has been described as "a suspicion of skunk, putrid meat, and garlic."

But this is a plant with a plan. The putrid smell and the maroon color are designed to attract pollinators -- notably, carrion flies and beetles that relish dead meat. The scent that drives these little critters wild is caused by chemicals called skatole and caderine, which happen to be the same substances found in rotting animal flesh. The dark red color mimics the appearance of a decaying animal carcass.

In addition to insect visitors, slugs often slime their way across the flowers en route to a leafy lunch. Spiders will tiptoe across the blossoms as well. The spiders are there, of course, to catch the incoming insects that are drawn to the tantalizing smell of decay.

All these little beasts have good reason to hang out in the putrid environs of skunk cabbage. Not only is the spathe is a good shelter from the elements, the flowers are miniature space heaters. By a process known as thermogenesis, skunk cabbage flowers can raise the temperature inside the spathe to a toasty 70 degree Fahrenheit, even in the midst of cold March rain.

While the heat makes a nice microclimate for invertebrates, its real function is to volatize scent chemicals. Researchers have found that skunk cabbage flowers can even regulate their space heaters, turning the thermostat up and down to control the timing of odor release. All the better to get the job of pollination done.

Once pollinated, skunk cabbage flowers produce fruit. The resulting berries are small, spongy and just as odorous as the flowers that bore them. The purpose of the fruit is to produce seeds and make new skunk cabbages. These are readily dispersed, and if the habitat is suitable, many new fragrant skunk cabbages will flourish.

Let's not overlook the leaves. In fact, they're pretty hard to overlook as they grow to gigantic proportions come summer. Clusters of big, broad leaves arise from a common base, often covering an area three feet in diameter. The leaves have lots of leaf veins. The veins form a net-like pattern and should not be confused with the parallel-veined leaves of the poisonous false hellebore.

Even if you can get over your nausea in the aromatic presence of skunk cabbage, and if you get a notion to sample some leaves, don't. The entire skunk cabbage plant contains calcium oxalates that can wreak havoc in your body. Ingesting these oxalates may cause painful irritation and swelling of the mouth, throat, and mucous membranes.

Despite -- or perhaps, because of -- these strong chemicals, skunk cabbage has a prominent place in the pharmacopoeia of native cultures. Shamans have known the medicinal and edible properties of skunk cabbage for centuries and have passed their knowledge from generation to generation. They have learned how to prepare and administer skunk cabbage. Equally important, they know the appropriate amount to apply. Lacking this wisdom, a person can get seriously ill from skunk cabbage.

In most cases, skunk cabbage leaves and roots must be thoroughly dried to remove the oxalates. Sometimes the plant parts can be boiled, but drying is more effective. With proper preparation and dosage, almost all parts of the plants -- leaves, roots, and even root hairs -- have healing and nutritional value.

Medicinal uses run the gamut from healing wounds to mitigating migraines and treating asthma, rheumatism, and dropsy. American Indians mashed and dried skunk cabbage leaves to make poultices. These were applied to wounds to reduce swelling. Indians chewed the leaves to prevent seizures and ate dried roots as antispasmodics. They sniffed leaves for relief from headaches. They steeped the dried roots to make a tea for whooping cough. The root hairs were prepared in medicine for toothaches. The rank-smelling roots were also applied as underarm deodorant. (Try that before your next date!)

Any way you look at it, this is one cool plant. Indeed, you can look at it -- and smell it -- in several forest preserves in Kane County this spring.

The growth has been delayed because this was an unusually prolonged winter with plenty of snow cover and ice.

In the next two weeks, there should be a spectacular population of skunk cabbage at Big Rock Forest Preserve at the southern end of Kane County. Bliss Woods in Sugar Grove also boasts a healthy skunk cabbage population. Look for it also at Glenwood Forest Preserve and the neighboring woods of Red Oak Nature Center in North Aurora. There are some skunk cabbages along Norton Creek and Ferson Creek in St. Charles.

As botanist Dick Young writes in Kane County Wild Plants and Natural Areas, when skunk cabbage blooms "another flowering season is quietly inaugurated in Kane County." Here's to a fragrant and early spring!

If you go

To learn more about the folklore, medicinal and edible uses of plants like skunk cabbage, come to "Ethnobotany," a class for adults held at Tekakwitha Woods in St. Charles Township from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The class will cover everything from ginseng to gin and timber to turpentine. It will explore the origins of ethnobotany and investigate the intricate relationship humans have with the green growing things around us.

The first portion of the class will be held indoors. In the second part of the class, participants will head outdoors for a hike and trailside activities, including tapping a maple tree and finding pharmaceuticals.

Instructor is Valerie Blaine, Nature Program Manager, Forest Preserve District of Kane County. Call (847) 741-8350, ext. 10 to register. There is a $10 fee per person.