1:01 In this part of Ohio, it s a rare plant, explains Great Parks Interpreter Paul Seevers during a recent guided, off-trail hike at the undeveloped Richardson Forest Preserve. It s just not that common, we don t have a lot of wetlands. . In other places it is very common.
Skunk cabbage, or
Symplocarpus foetidus to use its scientific name, is called the first flower of spring. Its reddish-purple bloom emerges first, followed by green cabbage-like leaves by late spring. What s amazing about it is what it does that kind of defies what we think of as a plant. For instance, it produces heat, Seevers explains. It stores starch in its roots and it s able to burn that through, basically, cellular respiration. It s able to keep its temperatures up in the 70s, maybe 80s, even when it s below freezing outside.