What's Blooming Kansas City - Skunk Cabbage

 

Skunk cabbage (Photo University of Wisconsin-Madison) 

 In this blog I generally focus on native plants that are blooming in an urban/suburban environment. It is difficult to find any that are truly "native" blooming this time of year and I have a yard with over 70 native species. Many that I am mentioning have become naturalized in North America and seem to be "wild" or native and have spread naturally. It would be challenging to find an area in the US that has not been "infiltrated" by non-native species. Even in Alaska, where I lived for nearly ten years, I saw invasive species like Pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea), Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris) and the dastardly dandelion (Taraxacum). Despite the conundrum of should I, or should I not, highlight native species exclusively, the overall purpose is to share my observations which are probably common to many, and perhaps answer the question of what's blooming. 

 It is hard to imagine that any wildflower has already completed its blooming cycle. The native Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is so early, that the plant is probably done flowering by March. Skunk cabbage is one of the rare plants that can metabolically generate heat through a process called thermogenesis. This quality allows the plant to bloom as early as January even when snow is on the ground. Its natural habitat is in low lying wet and even swampy areas. 

 My first encounter with the plant was when I was working as a National Park Service ranger at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. My office was conveniently located at the Happy Days visitor center (now a special event center) which accommodated the trailhead to the Haskell Run nature trail. Haskell Run is a creek that leads to the Cuyahoga River and just a half mile down the trail from Happy Days is where I first observed the flora in bloom. It was in January. Some people suggest that you will smell it before you see it, but my experience was only a visual one (the leaves may need to be bruised to release the skunk-like odor). Regardless, it is a fascinating plant and worthy of mention. 

I have not encountered Skunk Cabbage in the Kansas City area yet, but I believe a good candidate for looking would be the low lying trails around the Lakeside Nature Center in Swope Park.

 For additional information about this amazing plant visit https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/skunk-cabbage-symplocarpus-foetidus/