Skunk cabbage, Swamp cabbage, Stinking poke
Symplocarpus foetidus

Family: Araceae

What it is like

A herb that grows in swamps. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows 30-60 cm tall. The leaves are pale green and 30-40 cm wide and up to 1.2 m long. The flowers are greenish purple. They have a greenish yellow spadix 5-10 cm long. They have a purple spathe around them. The flower can give off an unpleasant smell.

It is used in medicine. There are 3 Symplocarpus species. It contains 5-hyrdoxy-tryptamine that can effect Serotonine absorption.

Where it is found

A temperate plant. It grows in wet and seasonally flooded places.

Countries/locations it is found in

Britain, Canada, China, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mediterranean, Netherlands, North America, Russia, USA

How it is used for food

The rhizomes or underground stems are used to make a peppery bread. It is dried and made into flour. Root used as an emergency food after drying or baking. The young leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable Caution: Plants in this family usually have oxalate crystals and need special preparation.

Edible parts

Leaves, root, rhizome, caution

How it is grown

Plants can be grown from fresh seed sown into mud.

Its other names

Local names

Synonyms

Dracontium foetidum Linnaeus; Ictodes foetidus (L.) Bogelow; Pothos foetidus (L.) Aiton; Spathyema foetida (L.) Raf.; and others