Aliens in a Scottish wood

[Roma]

As this is my hundredth posting I thought I'd make it something special.
The first two pictures were taken at the edge of the wood beside the field where my ponies are grazing just now.  The others were taken about half a mile away, where my daughters first discovered the original clump nearly thirty years ago, when they were children.
I know the plants at the edge of the wood probly were washed down the burn from the pond in their grandmother's field where they  planted seedlings  from the originalclump but I have no idea how it came to be growing there.  I know of no water gardens in this area thirty years ago and can't think of anyone in the neighbourhood who would have been growing such 'exotic' plants.

[Anthony Darby]

Aren't they beautiful aliens? I've always wished I had a garden big enough.

[Maggi Young]

Particularly beautiful aliens when photographed so well..... perhaps more like giant lamps with the sun through them

[Lesley Cox]

Aliens in Scotland indeed, but seemingly very much at home there.

[cohan]

very nice! i guess there must have been an exotic gardener somewhere nearby...do birds carry the seeds?

[Rodger Whitlock]

very nice! i guess there must have been an exotic gardener somewhere nearby...do birds carry the seeds?

Seeds of Lysichiton are too big for most birds.

It's a common wild plant here in wet places, but God help you if you decide to dig one up to take home. Whatever the actual underground organ is, it's a LONG way down in the mud.

But there's a small unresolved mystery to this plant. As many of you know, L. camschatense is the Asian counterpart, and is easily distinguished by having white spathes. A Seattle friend on a visit remarked, on seeing the ordinary yellow L. americanum, "gee, I thought those had white flowers. The ones I saw while hiking in the Cascade mountains were white, not yellow."

I'm of the opinion that my friend isn't subject to hallucinations, and if he says he saw white skunk cabbage in the Cascades, he did. But try as I might, I was never able to extract an exact location from him; perhaps he didn't remember which hike he'd seen these ghosts on and even the threat of being turned over to the Inquisition had no power.

So to this day I wonder, did he mis-remember, or is there an albino colony of L. americanum lurking somewhere in Cascade mountains?

[cohan]

But there's a small unresolved mystery to this plant. As many of you know, L. camschatense is the Asian counterpart, and is easily distinguished by having white spathes. A Seattle friend on a visit remarked, on seeing the ordinary yellow L. americanum, "gee, I thought those had white flowers. The ones I saw while hiking in the Cascade mountains were white, not yellow."

I'm of the opinion that my friend isn't subject to hallucinations, and if he says he saw white skunk cabbage in the Cascades, he did. But try as I might, I was never able to extract an exact location from him; perhaps he didn't remember which hike he'd seen these ghosts on and even the threat of being turned over to the Inquisition had no power.

interesting...i have no opinion on yor friend's mental state, but i suppose yellow to white is not such a huge leap for a sport...i'd like to try some here, would have to look into hardiness... much  colder than scotland or victoria, of course..

[Anthony Darby]

But there's a small unresolved mystery to this plant. As many of you know, L. camschatense is the Asian counterpart, and is easily distinguished by having white spathes. A Seattle friend on a visit remarked, on seeing the ordinary yellow L. americanum, "gee, I thought those had white flowers. The ones I saw while hiking in the Cascade mountains were white, not yellow."

I'm of the opinion that my friend isn't subject to hallucinations, and if he says he saw white skunk cabbage in the Cascades, he did. But try as I might, I was never able to extract an exact location from him; perhaps he didn't remember which hike he'd seen these ghosts on and even the threat of being turned over to the Inquisition had no power.

interesting...i have no opinion on yor friend's mental state, but i suppose yellow to white is not such a huge leap for a sport...i'd like to try some here, would have to look into hardiness... much  colder than scotland or victoria, of course..

Don't misunderestimate the power of transmutation in the mind.