#symplocarpus

[geopsych]

Finally got to the woods for skunk cabbage and saw this buddy. Otherwise nothing. Maybe because oof last summer’s prolonged drought. There are usually loads of them down there! When I got home my first grackle of the year was strutting around the garden. Signs of spring are signing!

[cedar-glade]

Transient skunk cabbage patch, now bog goldenrod and Virgin’s bower, midsummer it’s jewel weeds galore, vignettes to a unique ecotone.

Fen ecotone to mesic woodland in back ground.

The word ecotone is a word I want to use more in my writing but I feel like it’s not super accessible as jargin.

Liminal bridge or a transitional space inbetween different habitats thats noticable but not abrupt and can be catagorized by mixing of vegitation and habitat where core species aren’t necessarily found that would be found in the core of both adjacent habitats to the ecotone. This is not considered true edge habitat as edges feel abrupt with less of a flowing transition.

[vinniefisherart]

Saw this white crocodile trenchcoat at work and it was too perfect to not draw my druid! 

[los-plantalones]

i thought i was too late to catch my stinky babies but LO! i was Not

[dendroica]

Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus (by me)

[microcosmicobservations]

I FOUND MY FIRST SKUNK CABBAGES OF THE SEASON! Spring is officially here in my book. Skunk cabbage is one of the first spring ephemerals, as it generates heat (through a process called thermogenesis) to melt the frozen ground. In the second picture I’m holding the spadix (damaged by a careless hiker), the flower inflorescence that is normally tucked away within the spathe and has a fetid stench, as the name suggests, to attract fly pollinators.

[cedar-glade]

Symplocarpus foetidus, Eastern Skunk Cabbage, the first flower of spring 2021. 

Blooming as early as the beginning of February in most records. 

Photographed this one in specific all though there were a few open on the same taverntine formation just because I didn’t want to trudge there to much and the others were less accessible to photograph without breaking the taverntine and the marl. The formations at this specific sight are pretty new due to land use history, the spring houses up on top of the hill are 1890′s and 20′s construction so the original damage was done then and the marl beds haven’t had time to harden fully.  The bottom picture is that of marsh marigold leaves growing under the water which is a bit warmer than the surface water year round due to it being spring fed.  Caltha palustris <3

I should have decent previous posts explaining the evolutionary mechanisms of these species if you search by genus

[cedar-glade]

Symplocarpus foetidus, 

Eastern Skunk Cabbage

Skunk cabbages are finishing up and beginning to leaf out, eventually these flower clusters(spadix) will swell up to the size of a fist and have tons of large seeds inside. Usually they end up being hidden by the swelling of the ground and the large leaves. 

First set is from Pearl’s fen,

second set is foliage from blue hole, Clifton Gorge SNP, growing in wet dolostone tallus in what could be considered a section of the flood plain. 

third is also pearl’s fen but I like this photo the most because it shows a portion of the stalk for the spathe and spadix exposed, in many cases these plants are sunken pretty deep, have extreme quantities of thick fibrous roots which aid in soil stability and bio remediation, nutrient uptake, and aeration during vernal dam in winter months. As clear as these ecosystem benefits are for us this plant also uses these roots for fixing and stabilizing it’s self, contractile roots bury this species down to regain proper depth after frost heaving or large water displacement occurs.