The leaves and hooded flower-clusters rise from the ground.
The large and conspicuous leaves, which do not unfold until the flowering season is past, vary from 1 to 2 feet in length; they are oval in shape with a blunt tip and heart-shaped base, have entire margins, firm texture, and smooth surfaces, and resemble the garden Day-Lily because of their many parallel ribs. In color a light clear green.
The unnoticeable 4-parted greenish-yellow flowers are gathered closely on a fleshy round club (that is about an inch in diameter) and enveloped by a protecting hood. This hood is large and sharp-pointed, of a very thick and leathery texture, with a smooth and dull glossy surface; it is a dull brown or mahogany color, mottled or streaked with darker purple or red. From 1 to 3 or 4 of these hood-protected flower-heads are crowded close together, along with the rolled up leaf, in the hold of several dull greenish or slightly purple leaf-like parts which serve as weather blankets wrapped about the whole plant.
After the flowers mature the hood shrivels and falls away, the blankets disappear, and the pointed leaf-bud then unfolds, the leaves pushing forth with fine springing curves. The strong odor of the plant prevents close observation, and denies to it the praise its growth deserves. In habit it is highly gregarious, and favorable meadows are thickly sprinkled with these rich-hued hoods of our earliest spring flower.
SKUNK CABBAGE: Symplocarpus fœtidus.
| Golden Club. | Orontium aquaticum. |
Found in ponds, or standing water, in early May.
The flower-spike and leaves lie upon the water, or hold themselves just above its surface, springing on long stems from the submerged root.
The oblong, narrow leaf is thick and juicy, with an entire margin, that is conspicuously folded together and joined at the base, and a smooth surface. In color it is a rich-toned green with a bloom above, the under surface being shining and pale and much colored by fine speckles of bronze. The leaf-stem is round, porous, smooth, and bronzy.