A species of wet areas, American Skunk-cabbage was originally introduced from N. America and planted into ponds and water gardens, and it is now classed as ‘potentially invasive’ on the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s Invasive Species Database. It is a perennial member of the Arum or Araceae family and is occasionally naturalised in marshy areas and in streams. The yellow flowers are in a spathe which is 10-35cm long and this is enclosed in a greenish spadix (3.5-12cm). These flowers are foul-smelling and the skunk-like odour attracts insects such as beetles and flies. The plant is hairless and grows on rhizomes and has extremely large, ovate-oblong leaves (up to 1.35m long). The flowers of American Skunk-cabbage usually appear in April.
I first saw this plant ‘in captivity’ in a Dublin pond and photographed it there in 2013. I expect to see it ‘in the wild’ eventually.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
