Skunk Cabbage

plants · weird smell · survival trick

Generates its own heat. Skunk cabbage can warm itself up to 35 degrees Fahrenheit above the freezing air around it, melting the snow so it can poke through in early spring. This heat comes from the plant burning energy inside its cells, kind of like how your body creates warmth.

Smells absolutely awful. The plant gets its name because it smells like a skunk's spray, which is pretty gross. But this stinky smell is actually a clever trick to attract insects that help pollinate the flowers.

Blooms super early. Skunk cabbage is one of the first plants to flower in spring, sometimes poking through snow and ice in February or March. It doesn't wait for warm weather like most plants do.

Red and yellow spathe. The flower has a colorful hood-like part called a spathe that's usually striped with red and yellow or purple. Inside this hood is where the tiny flowers actually live.

Food for early bugs. When most other plants are still sleeping under the snow, skunk cabbage flowers are already open and providing nectar and pollen for hungry insects waking up from winter.