Finally, the bloom calendar may begin. Beth and I came across some skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, blooming at Stute Springs in Waukesha County, WI on April 6. These first blooms of spring may convey the death and decay of the muck from which they grow, but I’ll take it.

Skunk cabbage flower–The spadix (a spike of small flowers on a fleshy stem) peaks out from a rich, wine-colored and bulbous spathe (the bract, a modified leaf, that forms the hood here enclosing the spadix). This arrangement is typical of plants in the Family Araceae.