Eastern Skunk Cabbage, Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine

The Eastern Skunk Cabbage is in flower this week wherever the ground is just the right balance between wet and dry, between swamp and forest. Here in Southern Maine, it grows on the sides of ditches, banks above vernal pools, and the wettest sections of mixed marshy maple forests among the roots of silver birches. I learned a bit about the structure of the flower this morning on wikipedia. The outer twisted purple shell is called a “spathe” and the inner flower cluster, rarely seen but glimpsed here, is called the “spadix”. The flowers push up through the mud and leaf mold ahead of the huge green leaves and are one of the more striking evidences of spring in the Maine woods. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 640 @ f4. Processed in Polarr.