Symplocarpus foetidus- Beautiful Seed

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony,

I'll keep a close watch next spring and if I have two growing well I'll send on one to you.

Paddy

Thanks very much Paddy. That's very generous.

[Lesley Cox]

I have never seen this plant so ask if that leaf is typical? If so, I can see why it would be called "skunk" for the smell and "cabbage" for the very cabbage-like leaf.

[Stephenb]

I can't say whether the leaf is typical as I only have one plant...

However, another reason for the cabbage part is that the spring shoots were apparently used by at least one Native American tribe for food. However, this is not recommended as the leaves contain large amounts of calcium oxylate crystals (as does the tropical/sub-tropical vegetable Taro, Colocasia esculenta), but in much larger amounts. I've read some excruciating accounts of well known US wild foragers trying Skunk Cabbage for the first (and usually last) time. It seems that cooking doesn't destroy the crystals and 6 months or so of drying is required by which time the leaves taste like cardboard....

[Lesley Cox]

Sounds delicious The Maori but more particularly Pacific Islander population of NZ eat taro as a staple food. There are more Pacific Islanders (Samoan, Tongan, Cooks, etc) than there are in the Pacific Islands.

[rob krejzl]

yone know if Symplocarpus is dioecious?

Deni Bown's book, Aroids, says that the spadix is bisexual.

[Michael]

Paul, the other stinky plants of your collection are all aroids?

Do anyone grow the mediterranean Helicodiceros muscivorus?

[Lesley Cox]

I do Mike but have only had mine for 6 weeks and not flowering size yet. I've seen it in flower. Disgusting!! I love it.

[rob krejzl]

Now Paul will have to post a photo of his......

[Paul T]

Rob,

I'll see if I still have it.... it hasn't flowered in a couple of years so unless I have it on backups from before the computer crash I won't have a copy.  Then again, I think I have posted it a couple of places and might be able to find it that way.  I just love it, even it is it a bit wierd!! 

And it offsets very well Jindegales, too well at times ..... 

[Anthony Darby]

Not heard of Helicodiceros muscivorus before. Is it hardy and does it really eat flies?

[Michael]

Adarby, like Lesley said it is disgustingly beautifull, like a rottig carcass! They trap flies during some time for pollination purposes. I had never seen it though.

[Paul T]

Anthony,

They're hardy for me (if that is a help to you) and NO, they don't "eat" flies, but are pollinated by them I think, as so many Araceae. 

[Anthony Darby]

Thought so. It's just that "muscivore"  translates as housefly eater, Musca being the housefly.

[Paul T]

Well if you were watching a fly enter the entrance to the flower then not come out.... I guess you'd be thinking it was eating them.  With most of the aroids that use that pollination method the flies are trapped by downwad facing hairs that hold them in the lowr chamber overnight, shriveling by morning and letting the flowers out.  During that time the male flowers dehisce (I'm not sure the spelling is right?) their pollen, showering the captives with pollen that is then carried off to the next flower where the fly is trapped with open female flowers to transfer the pollen onto.  Given that any fly that goes inside never comes out again (well they do, but only early next morning) I would imagine that people initially thought they ate them. 

[Anthony Darby]

Perhaps they should yell "I'm a celebrity fly, let me out of here"?