Above is a photo of a stream feeding into the Mianus river at Mianus River park in Stamford, CT. Due to the cold winter, everything is blooming late; at this point last year, the Eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) seen bordering the stream was almost fully grown, it's about a month behind.
Ive written about skunk cabbage before, but it bears repeating, its quite an amazing plant for being so unassuming.
A top 5 list of whats cool about skunk cabbage:
1) Its one of the earliest blooming wetland plants; it actively creates heat (thermogenic) in early spring to melt snow cover. The energy required to create the heat is equivalent to a small mouse or hummingbird.
2) Its a suprisingly long lived plant and can live well in excess of 100 years, some plants have been verified as being a few hundred years old.
3) When stalks are broken - it smells like its namesake, a skunk.
4) Closely related to the calla lilly. (This is not readily apparent but the Skunk Cabbages flower is lily like in appearance)
5) Skunk cabbage has a limited ability to move via contractile roots. Since wetland soils aren't as stable as upland soils, the plant pulls itself deeper into the earth over time and as soil conditions change.
A thorough article and great detailed photos of Skunk Cabbage from the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford CT,are here
Suggested Reading:
http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=syfo