Can anyone identify this neat plant for us?

16 years ago

My husband took these photos on his bicycle ride today and we are trying to identify the plant. We did some searching, but nothing matched. It was growing in a wooded area, near a stream, on what looks like gravel. We live in central PA.

Thank you. Jane

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Comments (6)

terrestrial_man
16 years ago
Check out the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Plant
janepa
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you terrestrial man. I added the link to my desktop for future use. Imagine, a site that links to the Gettysburg area. My searches were very inadequate.

I had to chuckle when I saw what it will become. In a few weeks he might have known just by taking a whiff.

Jane
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agrigirl
16 years ago
This reminds me of a story my mother once told me about the cute striped kitty she found when she was 6. She took it home to show her parents. Carried it the whole way. When she got it to the barn.....it sprayed my grandfather. It was a skunk! HA HA HA

I have a picture in my head of your husband laboring over this plant. Carrying it all the way back to your house. And after awhile it awards him with a stench as well. LOL
theresa2
16 years ago
Skunk cabbage is one of the first plants to wake up in the new year. I spotted some this year in February poking through snow in zone 4b. The plant is able to break dormancy in winter because it's capable of generating it's own heat.
baccalynnwv
16 years ago
Thats a pretty interesting plant actually. I was reading on Wikipedia,

"Skunk cabbage is notable for its ability to generate temperatures of up to 15-35Â°C above air temperature..."

and

"Eastern Skunk Cabbage has contractile roots...so that the plant in effect grows downward, not upward. Each year, the plant grows deeper into the earth, so that older plants are practically impossible to dig up."
Lynda Waldrep
16 years ago
And I might add fairly indestructible. My two small plants were on the edge of a backflow from a small lake. This year we have had so much rain that they were under more than two feet of water right about the time they should have been popping up. They survived and are now showing the tops, over the still high water level.It will be interesting to see what all comes back on the edge of the lake after being under water for so long. Gives me something to look for!