skunk cabbage

noun

a low, fetid, broad-leaved North American plant, Symplocarpus foetidus, of the arum family, having a brownish-purple and green mottled spathe surrounding a stout spadix, growing in moist ground.
a related plant, Lysichiton americanum, of western North America, having a cluster of green leaves and a spike of flowers surrounded by a yellow spathe.

skunk cabbage

noun

a low-growing fetid aroid swamp plant, Symplocarpus foetidus of E North America, having broad leaves and minute flowers enclosed in a mottled greenish or purple spathe
a similar aroid plant, Lysichitum americanum, of the W coast of North America and N Asia

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Word History and Origins

Origin of skunk cabbage¹

An Americanism dating back to 1745–55

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Example Sentences

That’s where friends and I tramped across streams and down overgrown trails, where the sweet smell of freshly cut grass gave way to the dankness of soil and skunk cabbage.

From Outside Online

From the smooth sumac they reap a harvest in midsummer, and in March they get a good grist of pollen from the skunk-cabbage.

From Project Gutenberg

Off in the ferns there beat a warning tattoo—the loud whir of the snake's tail against a skunk-cabbage leaf.

From Project Gutenberg

“I can pull out any skunk cabbage with my teeth,” said Deer.

From Project Gutenberg

The skunk cabbage raises his hooded head first in sheltered hollows.

From Project Gutenberg

Skunk-cabbage, you call it; so quaint a flower deserves a rather better name.

From Project Gutenberg