A good time and place to cuddle up

Did You Know? The eastern skunk cabbage can melt its way through the frozen ground!

That’s right. The skunk cabbage is one of only a small group of plants known to be thermogenic, meaning it can generate its own heat. Skunk cabbages live in swampy and marshy terrain, where cold winters may completely encase plants in ice. By breaking down starches stored in its roots, dormant plants can emerge from the ground by generating temperatures around the plant’s flower and roots that are between 59-95° F above ambient air temperature. The heat, coupled with the aromatic smell of carrion, apples, turnips, or garlic, attracts a variety of early spring pollinators to the abundant pollen. Who doesn’t like to sit in a hot sauna with a snack on a cold winter day? And with all those flies and bees buzzing in and out, guess who else you might find waiting at the entrance to the flower’s delights? Spiders!

Go deeper: Check out these beautiful pictures and engaging description of the eastern skunk cabbage at Sharp-Eatman Nature Photography.

Challenge yourself: Head out to your local soggy-bottomed forest and see if you can spot any of these low-lying flowers and their pollinating friends. Once you find one, count how many can you see. If you stand still long enough, it’ll seem like they suddenly start popping out of the terrain!

Engage with us: Upcoming on Feb 20, join us for a family friendly hike at Claytor Nature Center. We’ll be leading a walk around some swampy terrain where we’ll stop to get a good look at some of these unique plants.