Skunk Cabbage - A Sign of Spring [Plant ID Guide]

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors talks about Skunk Cabbage [Symplocarpus foetidus] a hearty plant that is an indicator of spring's impending return. A reason the Skunk Cabbage is able to sprout so early is because of thermogenesis, the ability to generate its own heat. The Skunk Cabbage can melt snow around it and use it's heat to spread it's smell and attract pollinators such as flys and beetles. The Skunk Cabbage has a wide range of population, spanning from eastern Asia to Eastern North America, but is found in wet, low-lying, boggy areas.

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Tags: black owl outdoors,nature,camping,hiking,backpacking,survival,bushcraft,wilderness,forest,skunk cabbage,plant guide,plant id,bogs,woodlands

Video Transcription

himself turtles Rick here with blackout outdoors I just want to share something I've noticed while I'm out here doing a couple reviews just on my walk around the area I'm enjoying my time and there's a plant coming up that I wanted to show you and it's known as Eastern skunk cabbage or its latin name simpler parker's throw to this and it's really cool and sort of an important plant to recognize and receives we're changing because when this plant comes up it's a sign that the transition and sort of being accepted acknowledged and there's a shift the shifters sort of visible in the plant kingdom so i'm going to show you right now some close-ups okay that's growing in this screen bottom in a valley floor the stream run with you and so I come up initially balding areas when there's a lot of standing water that's funny you want to try to get a shot and what's really cool about this plant that it's in a sort of a really small group within the plant kingdom and that's a that's plants that are able to produce their own heat or thermogenesis as another name for it so they're allowed they enable themselves to create their own heat to come up when the soil is still cold you know it's starting to thaw but there's this plant definitely has you know is able to be snowed on I'm covered in snow but because it's creating its own its own heat it can sustain that long enough to you know sort of glass to warmer weather when it really opens up and creates big leaves and what's really cool is the pollinators of these little guys flies and beetles they're attracted to the plant because the thermogenesis sort of scavenger if you will carcass rotting that sort of thing hope you enjoyed it Creek signing out with back out outdoors play the girls