What is "skunk cabbage"

Skunk \Skunk\, n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian) seganku.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid, which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.

Note: The common species of the Eastern United States ( Mephitis mephitica) is black with more or less white on the body and tail. The spotted skunk ( Spilogale putorius), native of the Southwestern United States and Mexico, is smaller than the common skunk, and is variously marked with black and white.

Skunk bird, Skunk blackbird (Zo["o]l.), the bobolink; -- so called because the male, in the breeding season, is black and white, like a skunk.

Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb ( Symplocarpus f[oe]tidus) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike leaves. It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called swamp cabbage.

Skunk porpoise. (Zo["o]l.) See under Porpoise.

n. 1 Any of several leafy, foul-smelling plants. 2 # ''Symplocarpus foetidus'', a low-growing plant native to the wetlands of eastern North America. 3 # (taxlink Lysichiton americanus species noshow=1), a low-growing plant native to the wetlands of western North America. 4 # (taxlink Lysichiton camtschatcense species noshow=1), a low-growing plant native to the wetlands of eastern Asia.

1. n. deciduous perennial low-growing fetid swamp plant of eastern North America having minute flowers enclosed in a mottled greenish or purple cowl-shaped spathe [syn: polecat weed, foetid pothos, Symplocarpus foetidus]

2. clump-forming deciduous perennial swamp plant of western North America similar to Symplocarpus foetidus but having a yellow spathe [syn: Lysichiton americanum]

Skunk cabbage is a common name for several plants and may refer to:

• the genus Lysichiton
• Asian skunk cabbage, Lysichiton camtschatcensis, grows in eastern Asia
• Eastern skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, grows in eastern North America
• Western skunk cabbage, Lysichiton americanus, grows in western North America
• Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore), locally called skunk cabbage, grows in western North America