Skunk cabbage emerges

Despite a couple of recent thaws, there's still about a foot of snow in many parts of the woods. But the blanket is a little thinner in the wetter areas, and in little February, I always have it on my calendar to go exploring and search for the emergence of the first flower of the growing season. The ground may be white and frozen, but around the monk's hood coverings—technically known as spathes—of that malodorous plant known as the Skunk Cabbage, it's already almost June. Skunk Cabbage is more skunk than cabbage: a plant that makes its own heat and regulates the temperature with the botanical equivalent of a thermostat. Inside this hot-house environment, the temperature's around a constant 70 degrees, which is warm enough to melt snow and definitely an attraction to flying insects that will home in on the heat and, in return, pollinate the flowers.