A Bird? An Animal? Or Skunk Cabbage?

Why should children learn to identify skunk cabbage? If you take a young person on a walk while there is still ice coating streams and trees waiting for their tender buds and brown of last years fallen  leaves , the pointed maroon hoods poking through the frozen ground around a bog tell you and your young  friend that  Nature is  getting ready for the changing season from winter to spring. As much fun as sledding and snowballs can be there is an excitement to see this new growth; so tender yet capable of poking through the frozen ground. Just how the skunk cabbage manages this is an amazing story about how it produces heat as it grows. Roger Knutson discovered that the pointed, somewhat curved leaf breaking through the icy ground produces a warmth just like birds and animals. Look carefully at the spiraled hood and you will see a pool of melting ice. The first bees and insects of warmer weather may be enjoying this unique warmth too. The Northeast Native Americans associated this rebirth in February or March, before any other plants poked through the ice and snow, as the cycle of life.