Range: From about North Carolina north in the eastern United States.

Poisonous Parts: all
Primary Poisons: oxalate

Photo from Cornell Univ.

Skunk cabbage is named from its foul, skunk-like odor. Commonly found in swampy areas or in low-lying saturated soils adjacent to streams, skunk cabbage has no close relationship to the cabbage family and has a slight resemblence to cabbage when it ripens in august

Photo from kwic.com

In early spring you will often find Skunk Cabbage poking up through the snow. The plant actually generates heat to give it an early start, capturing the pollination crowd before other, more attractive plants get the attention. The odor (really bad) attracts bees, gnats, and flies on those early warm days. The plant in spring has a hood-shaped sheath (a spathe) that is maroon streaked with greenish-yellow. Inside the hood are the flowers on a fleshy, club-shaped spadix. The cabbage-like leaves come out later in the warmer weather and get fairly large (about the size and shape of rhubarb).

There have been some medicinal uses made of Skunk Cabbage. Any use however must keep in mind that the plant (ALL the plant) is poisonous.

Medicinal Action and Uses---Antispasmodic, diaphoretic, expectorant, narcotic. Large doses cause nausea, vomiting, headache, vertigo and dimness of vision. It has been used with alleged success in asthma, chronic catarrh, chronic rheumatism, chorea, hysteria and dropsy. It is said to be helpful in epilepsy, and convulsions during pregnancy and labour. It is an ingredient in well-known herbal ointments and powders. Externally, as an ointment, it stimulates granulations, eases pain.

The powdered root may be used alone or mixed with honey (1/2 OZ. to 4 OZ. of honey), but the best method of use is probably a saturated tincture of the fresh root.

Skunk Cabbage exhibits anti-spasmodic, diaphoretic, and expectorant properties. Skunk Cabbage may be used whenever there is a tense or spasmodic condition in the lungs. It will act to relax and ease irritable coughs.

Skunk Cabbage may also be used in cases of asthma, bronchitis and whooping cough. As a diaphoretic, it will aid the body during fevers.

For the treatment of asthmatic conditions, Skunk Cabbage may be used effectively with Grindelia, Pillbearing Spurge and Lobelia.

Use as food.

Please take the following thoughts with great caution!
The leaves can be boiled several times and eaten like spinach. Some Indians used the skunk cabbage to quiet muscle spasms or relieve headaches. The raw roots are poisonous, but are edible after proper drying or roasting and may be ground into a starchy flour. Herbalists add honey to the ground root to form a medicine that may calm the bronchial system and relieve asthma.

Thank you for reading and please be careful with any use of Skunk Cabbage other than to use as an ornamental in your bog garden.