SKUNK CABBAGE

[skunk cabbage] n (1751): either of two No. American perennial herbs of the arum family that occur in shaded wet to swampy areas and have a fetid odor suggestive of a skunk: a: one (Symplocarpus foetidus) of eastern No. America that sends up in spring a cowl-shaped brownish purple spathe b: one (Lysichitum americana) chiefly of the Pacific coast region that has a large yellow spathe