User:Lisa12138/Symplocarpus foetidus

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Symplocarpus combines the Greek word symploce, meaning "connection" and carpos, meaning "fruit", to indicate that the plant has a compound fruit.

The genus name Symplocarpus combines two Greek words :

Symplo- is derived from [σνμπλoκή], meaning connection,

-carpus is derived from [καρπòς], meaning fruit.

Linnaeus gave the plant its species name of foetidus, Latin for "bad-smelling". The plant produces a strong odor, which is repulsive to many but sometimes described as smelling like "fresh cabbage with a slight suggestion of mustard". The odor increases in intensity over time, as the plant matures, likely due to increased ripeness in the plant's stamens.

Description
Growing from a rhizome which is often 30 cm thick, the plant produces large leaves, each 40 – long and 30 – wide. It flowers early in the spring when only the flowers are visible above the mud.

Curiously, the plant possesses contractile roots: Older roots show peculiar ring-like markings or wrinkles on them, especially near the upper or older end. The general purpose is to pull the plant back into the ground as it grows up every year. The contractile action of the roots cause them to wrinkle up permanently. As time elapses the entire stem is buried below ground and the plant becomes practically impossible to dig up.

The flowers are produced on a 5 – long spadix contained within a spathe, 10 – tall and varied in color. Young spathes are yellow-green or yellow in color with few dark mottles, while older spathes acquire more mottles that are darker in color. When spathes grow through a layer of ice, the ice can be seen melted around the spathe in a circular form. The spathes are generally 10-15 cm tall, are hood-like or shell-like in shape. The mottling in their coloring is such that it closely resembles the flickering lights and shades often seen on the undergrowth, as the sun filters through the leaves of the trees overhead. This frequently makes it hard to find them on the forest floor. .

Flowers of the Eastern skunk cabbage are perfect, having both male and female reproductive parts. In many flowering plants there is a time separation of gender expression, known as dichogamy, that functions to prevent self-fertilization. The flowers are protogynous, with the female reproductive parts (pistils) becoming sexually mature before the male parts (stamens). The flowers are inconspicuously crowded on the spadix. The spathes acts as the conspicuous portion of the plant. The flower cluster varies in size and in the number of flowers produced. Due mostly to the crowding effect, the flowers do not show three (or its multiple) floral parts, as should be expected for monocots, but four perianth parts. These look almost cuboidal in shape and overlap each other to make a box-like arrangement. The stamens are arranged opposite the perianth parts. The anthers are two-celled, opening lengthwise and are extrorse and rather free in their movement. The flowers are protandrous, the anthers developing earlier than the pistil. The pistil is unusual in its general structural form. The stigma is three-lobed, the style is cuboidal and the ovary is one-celled.

The leafage consists of two whitish sheathing leaves, with the monocotyledonous character in having parallel veining. The true leaves are rolled within these and form a light hard-coiled center. The tips, when they have broken through the enveloping sheath-like leaves, are frequently colored purplish like the spathe of the plant. Such coloring may show on the outside of the tip of the first and even the second leaves. These inner, or true, leaves seem to break away from the monocotyledonous and tend toward the netted veining of dicotyledonous plants. The first three leaves unfolding show a gradual transition toward the netted veining of the later leaves. In all the cases the veining is palmately netted. In a microscopical study the leaves show rather large air chambers and loosely packed cellular structures. Throughout the leaf are various rhaphides occurring in the large bundle masses. There are also several other types of crystals, a few cuboidal in shape, and even some spherical in shape may be found scattered loosely here and there - sphaerocryst.

Symplocarpus foetidus reproduce by hard, pea-sized seeds which develop within the spadix and when ripe fall into the mucky substrate. The seeds are then dispersed by birds and small mammals or by floods.

Distribution
The Eastern skunk cabbage grows best in areas with great moisture, like the rest of the Arum family.

Symplocarpus foetidus can be found throughout eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, west to Minnesota and southeast to Tennessee and North Carolina. In Canada, the plant's distribution ranges from western Nova Scotia to southeastern Manitoba.

Ecology
Eastern skunk cabbage is notable for its ability to generate temperatures of up to 15–35 °C (59–95 °F) above air temperature by cyanide resistant cellular respiration in order to melt its way through frozen ground, placing it among a small group of thermogenic plants. One mechanism behind maintaining heat around the plant is the thermogenic oscillation of the spadix: an oscillatory temperature-sensing model in the spadix creates a precise thermal regulator under dynamic environmental temperature changes, independent of light. An equilibrium between heat production and loss, due to heat radiation, evaporation, conduction and convention is maintained in the spadix. Additionally, the airflow around the spathe effiectively maintains heat generated by the spadix.

Even though it flowers while there is still snow and ice on the ground, it is successfully pollinated by early insects that also emerge at this time. Some studies suggest that beyond allowing the plant to grow in icy soil, the heat it produces may help to spread its odor in the air.

The skunk-like odor produced floral odor from both male and female skunk cabbage plants to contain dimethyl disulfide, aliphatic hydrocarbons, carboxylic acids, and esters, whereas aromatic hydrocarbons and indole compounds were unique to female plants. Carrion-feeding insects that are attracted by the scent may be doubly encouraged to enter the spathe because it is warmer than the surrounding air, fueling pollination ..

Some blowflies, such as Calliphora vomitoria are known pollinators of skunk cabbage. Curiously, spiders' webs were frequently noticed at the entrance to the spathes. The flower's carion-like odor attracts the flies, which become tangled in the spider's web and so provide food for the spider.

Uses
The Eastern skunk cabbage was used extensively as a medicinal plant, seasoning, and magical talisman by various tribes of Native Americans. The plant was primarily used for its expectorant and antispasmodic properties, which is still employed in modern herbalism. Notably, the Winnebago and Dakota tribes used it to stimulate the removal of phlegm in asthma. It was also used as a seasoning and magical talisman by various tribes. From 1820 to 1882, it was used in pharmaceutical products as the drug “dracontium” to treat respiratory diseases, nervous disorders, rheumatism, and dropsy. The plant's rootstock can be used internally in the treatment of respiratory and nervous disorders, including asthma, whooping cough, catarrh, bronchitis and hay fever. Thoroughly dried young leaves are quite good when reconstituted in soups or stews.

Toxicity
The plant should not be eaten raw because its roots are antispasmodic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, expectorant and slightly narcotic. Handling the fresh leaves can cause skin to blister whilst excessive doses of the root can bring on nausea and vomiting, headaches and dizziness. This is due to skunk cabbage containing calcium oxalate crystals, which have medium toxicity to humans. The toxicity may be removed through careful preparation, such as changing the water frequently when boiling the leaves, or thoroughly drying the plant.

Warning: POISONOUS PARTS: All parts except uncurled leaves and roots. Toxic only if eaten in large quantities. Symptoms include burning and swelling of lips, tongue, and throat; nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Toxic Principle: Calcium oxalate crystals and possibly others.