Jack-in-the-pulpit

I do not see many good photos of this plant in the berry stage and still having green leaves above so decided to share this one of Arisaema triphyllum which I recently noticed along a small stream near home. This beautiful floodplain plant is known for having an edible root once it is thinly sliced and thoroughly dried for a long period. In my area it is not near common enough for me to try as a food, plus this plant as a whole is loaded with mouth stinging calcium oxylate crystals which limits its usability, sure is nice to see though.

Here is an old pic from my blog library taken in spring 2013 of this plant who has the common name of Jack-in-the-pulpit due to how it looks while flowering in the spring, click on the photo to notice the unique spathe and spadix under my thumb.

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Skunk Cabbage patch

Here is Symplocarpus foetidus, the Skunk Cabbage with its unique spathe and visible small flowers on the spadix, you can also see some tightly curled green leaves new on the scene. I have very little experience with the edibility of Skunk Cabbage as I vaguely recall drying a few stinky leaves over a very long time to use powdered around 30 years ago. Since I now have a wild flower page on the blog I have an excellent reason to show a few photos of these most striking plants. Here the leaves are opening up a bit more. To eat Skunk Cabbage you need to do your homework as the calcium oxalate crystals found within the plant are nothing to sneeze at, lets keep our foraged foods as painless to mouth and other bodily channels as possible. A good look at a few leaves, these usually are between 1 to 2 ft long. Another angle at the spathe. and now for a look at a slice of the Skunk Cabbage patch. I’m at the eastern most tip on N.B today and you will probably need to travel in NB a 100 plus miles SW to find another patch or even a few other Skunk Cabbages as they are kind of rare in the Maritimes provinces. ciao