Let's try this again... the photos didn't make it on the first attempt. the attached photos were taken in the Rogers Pass (B.C.) last week. Can anyone provide both the botanical and common name for this plant?
Lysichitum americanum - skunk cabbage. Upon closer look the botanic name is most probably Lysichiton americanus from the USDA Plants page. I got Lysichitum from my copy of 'Flora of the Pacific Northwest' by C&H circa 1973. Harry
Thanks for the quick reply... I'll identify the photo as both "Lysichitum" & "Lysichiton". Any idea why this is called Skunk Cabbage... I did not detect any odour when I took the photo.
Re: Wild flower? This flower just appeared one spring among my "cultured" flower bed. It is a vigorous plant... and the bees love it! What is it?
Perhaps you didn't get close enough or maybe the flowers had not fully formed to give rise to the odor of rotting flesh it uses to attract carrion flies. The above plant looks to be a borage. Do the leaves in the picture belong to this plant? Harry
There definitely was no odour yet to the Skunk Cabbage... I was less than a metre away to take the photos. And yes, the leaves in the "borage" photo, do belong with the flower.
After doing a little research I think it is a Phacelia, perhaps P. glandulosa. Belongs to the Hydrophyllaceae or waterleaf family. I was unable to find pictures of it on line (you might have better luck), but I found references that it does grow in Alberta. Another choice is P. lyallii, but with the foliage in the picture, I would still think P. glandulosa. I found it in "Flora of Pacific Northwest" by Hitchcock and Cronquist which doesn't really cover your location. You might try to locate other sources on line that would be more local. Harry
OK Harry, The description of Phacelia, P. glandulosa fits the plant. I am puzzled as to how a plant native to South California made it to my flower bed in Calgary, AB three years ago. I have since moved to Lethbridge. I have Reader's Digest A-Z Encylopedia of Garden Plants (15,000 plants & 6,000 photographs). It always seems that the plant I'm trying to identify doesn't have a photo in this book. And since you love to photograph wild flowers, here's one of a crocus I shot last week near Norbury Lake, East Kootenay, B.C., which is east of Cranbrook. I am also an amateur photographer, and shoot just about anything beautiful; flowers, scenery, wild life and have developed a passion for trains (a railfan nut). My better scenic train shots get posted on a website. Norm
Hi Norm, If you are talking about Phacelia glandulosa var. glandulosa (not to be confused with P. glandulosa var deserta or P. glandulifera), then actually the maps on the usda plants page show it as being a northern plains plant. If it is listed in Calflora it must be introduced there. I did see a place on line offering them for sale. And I meant to say how great your photos are. I really like the one of the Phacelia with the bumble on it. Neat photo. And the crocus (Pulsatilla patens ssp? synonym Anemone nuttalliana?) is great too. A little off topic, but what kind of camera are you using, digital or film? Harry
I'm using a Sony DSC-V1 digital camera. I do my editing with Abode Photoshop Elements. I have other bumblebee shots on blossoms on Evens cherry and Nanking Cherry as well of some great closeups of a robin in a birdbath. If interested, I can send some directly to you, instead of through this forum. Also have hundreds of other photos of indoor & ourdoor plants... some fantastic closeups shots of African violets too! Norm
Infl. of skunk cabbage smell like toothpaste, leaves become more noticeably malodorous as the season advances. In summer a patch can be detected some distance away.
I notice that skunk cabbage is an introduced plant in Ireland. My question is why? :) One of the web pages said it was edible after repeated boiling in separate waters, and roasting of the root to get rid of the skunk smell/taste. Again my question would be why would you want to do that? :) The need would have to be really great. Harry
Could also be Phacelia tanacetifolia; a California species, but often included in "wildflower" mixes and also planted as nectar source for bees; naturalized in Europe..
Hi David in LA, P. tanacetifolia could well be the plant. I can't find any glaring differences between it and P. glandulosa var. glandulosa, but have been unable to find a detailed botanic description of P. glandulosa anywhere and the one I have is pretty sparse to say the least. I was able to find one of P. tanacetifolia on the Jepson site. When I put forth P. glandulosa I simply looked at the maps of plants of the genus on the USDA Plants page. and then compared Norms picture to the only two P. glandulosa and P. lyallii that seemed to resemble it. If you or anyone can come up with a detailed description of P. glandulosa var. glandulosa, perhaps we can tell Norm some plant feature to look for to tell whether his plant is either or neither. At this point I would be curious too. Harry
The first plant pictured is definitely Lysichiton Americanum or Skunk Cabbage. Also known as Swamp Cabbage, Yellow Arum or Meadow Cabbage. The Lysichiton Americanum ranges from Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska south to California. The flowers themselves do not have the skunky smell to them, only the leaves and roots of the plant. Bears love to eat the flowers. There are food uses for the plant but the leaves contain a large concentration of calcium oxalate crystals which can cause intense burning of the mouth and tongue. They must be boiled repeatedly in several changes of water to remove the toxins. The roots and rhizomes also have food usage but must be dried and roasted to remove the toxins. It all seems like a waste of time to me.
I think I'm coming in a bit late, but back to the skunk cabbage... we have loads of them near to where I live and they actually do smell like skunks. They don't really smell like rotting flesh to me, and toothpaste is a new one, I'll have to sniff them again with that in mind to see if I can see what you mean. I would describe them as smelling more like a mixture between marijuana and freshly stepped on dog feces from a dog who has eaten a lot of celery to be completely blunt. I hear from others who have encountered skunks personally that the smell is very similar, though, as stated above, this odour must be coming from the roots and leaves. It's a familiar smell when walking through a marshy forrest, so perhaps you didn't notice it when you were photographing the flowers simply because it may be a smell you associate with the forrest or marsh.
This is not a crocus. It is a pasqueflower which I believe is not supposed to grow in te wild in B. C.; if it were from my area in Europe and the photo taken much earlier in the year (March!) then it might be Pulsatilla vulgaris. But the exact determination of the species might not be easy.
Hi Robert, This reply is only a year late, but I have been busy of late and not able to find much time to keep track on this forum, one of my favorite places on the web by the way. Prairie crocus is one of the common names for Pulsatilla patens ssp multifida but when I wrote that post I only referred to the name crocus as it was mentioned in the post with the picture, to distinguish it from the several flowers pictured in this thread. Pasqueflower and Anemone are too, both used as common names for plants from this genus here in the PNW. But the reason I suggested Pulsatilla patens? in the first place was its range includes BC, and the northern tier states in the US, which was not to far away from Norm's location and that many of the photos from this image search closely resembled it. Wasn't able to pin it down for sure from the picture, hence the question mark. To actually pin it down to a species let alone a subspecies might take having the plant in hand or maybe someone with more expertise than I. As far as it being Pulsatilla vulgaris, even that might be a possibility. :) Harry
Hi Harry, you are most probably right about the prairie crocus. Common names are sometimes hard to understand for people who are not used to them. Sorry for my misunderstanding! But even scientific names may be tricky. The "Illustrated Flora of British Columbia" calls the plants Anemone patens ssp. multifida, but according to the current German standard checklist the species would be Pulsatilla patens, not Anemone patens. Thank you! Robert.
