The Scent of Spring

Wednesday, April 7th
by Editor, Soiled and Seeded

The Scent of Spring

As the city blooms with bulbs and gardeners are keeping close to the ground fingering green tips and soft, dense clusters - we were off in search of a little bit of wild. Hiking through the wet, marshy woods of Elgin County in southern Ontario, we saw spring in only one form. The first flower of the season in these parts is not one that would easily adorn a spring bouquet, unless one wanted something of the gothic.

Symplocarpus foetidus, or skunk cabbage belongs to the Arum family and is a relative of the familiar calla lily (yes, the wedding flower variety). With scrolled leaves and mottled fleshy hoods, these emergent figures have nothing to do with the pastel prettiness of spring. Odiferous, with a skunky odour, and thermogenic, the flower head inside the hood produces heat, these striking specimens are just the beginning of all that is strange in the plant world.