Description
Lysichiton – Skunk Cabbage – Lysichitum –
There are 2 species of robust, marginal aquatic perennials, in this genus. They occur in Northeastern Asia and Western North America. They are grown for their basal cluster of large, pointed, heart shaped, glossy, mid to dark green leaves and their spring borne yellow or white spathes, up to 24″ long, that surround spadices bearing small, bisexual green flowers. Flowers appear before the leaves. They have a musky smell. Grow beside a stream or pool.
Grow in fertile, humus rich soil at the margins of a stream or pool, in full sun or partial shade.
L. americanus – Yellow Skunk Cabbage – This marginal aquatic perennial found from coastal Alaska to Northern California grows 3′ feet tall and 4′ feet wide. It produces rosettes of ovate-oblong, strongly veined, leathery, glossy, mid to dark green leaves, 20-48″ long. In early spring before the leaves it bears ovate to narrowly ovate, butter yellow spathes, to 16″ high.
Zones 7-9
