SKUNK CABBAGE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Skunk cabbage

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/skəŋk kˈæbədʒ/ Listen

Skunk cabbage

noun

Deciduous perennial low-growing fetid swamp plant of eastern North America having minute flowers enclosed in a mottled greenish or purple cowl-shaped spathe. Synonyms: foetid pothos, polecat weed, Symplocarpus foetidus.

Clump-forming deciduous perennial swamp plant of western North America similar to Symplocarpus foetidus but having a yellow spathe. Synonym: Lysichiton americanum.

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Etymology of 'Skunk cabbage'

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"Skunk cabbage" Quotes from Famous Books

... beautiful bit of forest. The ground under the trees was thickly covered with enormous ferns or bracken, with here and there patches of light where the sun came through the foliage. The low spots were filled with the coarse green verdure of skunk cabbage. I was so sceptical about finding the cow in a wood where concealment was so easy that I confess I rather idled and enjoyed the surroundings. Suddenly, however, I heard Mr. Purdy's voice, with a new ...

— Adventures In Contentment • David Grayson

... it? Then study the mechanism of one of our common orchids or milkweeds that are adjusted with such marvelous delicacy to the length of a bee's tongue or of a butterfly's leg; learn why so many flowers have sticky calices or protective hairs; why the skunk cabbage, purple trillium, and carrion flower emit a fetid odor while other flowers, especially the white or pale yellow night bloomers, charm with their delicious breath; see if you cannot discover why the immigrant daisy already whitens our fields with descendants as numerous as the sands of ...

— Wild Flowers, An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and - Their Insect Visitors - - Title: Nature's Garden • Neltje Blanchan

Words linked to "Skunk cabbage" : bog plant, genus Symplocarpus, marsh plant, swamp plant, Symplocarpus