Skunk Cabbage

March 15, 2006. This is Skunk Cabbage, or Symplocarpus foetidus, one of the very first wildflowers to bloom each spring. Often, this flower is found blooming under a layer of snow. The plant actually generates heat (byproduct of metabolism) that melts the snow around it.
Thanks to a friend who invited me to her land, I was able to photograph a patch of skunk cabbages in Giles County, VA. The patch was growing along a stream in an area covered with small trees and multiflora rose (OUCH!). Growing among the cabbages, I found small green sprouts of bedstraw (Galium), as shown in the photo above.