It’s St. Patrick’s Day, so we’re serving cabbage today. Unfortunately, our cabbage is inedible and foul-smelling at times, but it’s a very important plant.
We’re talking about Skunk Cabbage. Its flower-containing purple spathes are just now pushing their way up through the ice in the bogs., as you see from this image taken this morning:
The plant’s name is uncharitable, but descriptive; it has a foul breath when it flowers or is bruised. However, that’s why the plant has survived for centuries: that odor is very pleasant to bees and other pollinators and obnoxious to larger animals that might crush it. By summer, the Skunk Cabbage will be a regal, shade-producing canopy for smaller wildlife, as shown in this archive image:
(Brooklin, Maine)