Comments on: Skunk Cabbage

By: ck

ck — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:33:17 +0000

Re: M Gilbert

Not only Mt. Rainier but all over the Cascades and Olympics in WA… I believe Skunk Cabbage is the most noticeable plant I see on my weekend hikes around Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Park.

By: Jennifer Schlick

Jennifer Schlick — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:36:41 +0000

hmm…. I like Beck’s Beer. Our skunk cabbage is now being ravaged by snails…

By: David R. Peterson

David R. Peterson — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:28:32 +0000

We just ate some skunk cabbage raw on a hike around Lost Lake near Hood River, Oregon. I consumed one half of a rather large leaf which measured 4 X 3 inches. My friend Sylvia ate a little less.

We had numb tingling on our tongues and the backs of our throats a few minutes later.

The initial taste was not unpleasant, but I detected a skunky aroma immediately reminiscient of a freshly opened Becks Beer.

By: M. Gilbert

M. Gilbert — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:45:21 +0000

Interesting, I will have to look into it the next time I visit the Mt. Rainier. The rangers might have more information. Thank you Jennifer!
Matt

By: Jennifer Schlick

Jennifer Schlick — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:05:43 +0000

Well, according to the USDA Plant Database range map, it is only native in the northeast… so I’m guessing that if you are seeing it, it was introduced.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SYFO&mapType=nativity&photoID=syfo_001_avp.tif

By: M. Gilbert

M. Gilbert — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:01:33 +0000

I recently spotted Skunk Cabbage in the wetlands of Mt. Rainier, located in Washington State – the NW, as opposed to the stated NE region. I’m wondering if they are natural to WA state, or were simply brought over from the NE territories? Anyone know for sure?

By: Jennifer Schlick

Jennifer Schlick — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:28:30 +0000

thanks for your testimonial. i read a lot about edible plants in nature, and there are a few i have tried… but not skunk cabbage!

By: Tried it.

Tried it. — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:50:54 +0000

It grows all over Vancouver Island, where I live. Native lore has it that local tribes ate it, so I sampled it, and it’s nasty! During a spring hike, my brother and I each took a piece from new leaves, pieces smaller than half your little fingernail. We chewed it and prounced it bland but edible. Then came a creeping pepperiness, which got stronger by the minute and transformed into a prickly feeling throughout the whole mouth. We cut short our hike and headed back home. Nothing we tried affected the pain. After about a day, it dulled to a numb tingling, and it was gone the day after that. It felt like having a mouth full of small needles, which describes oxalic acid crystals, so I guess they were embedded in the mucous membranes until they dissolved. Apparently they are broken down by dehydration, and some say to boil it, but it turns out the natives used it more as a wrapping than as salad. I’ll never touch it again, no matter how it is prepared; I never want to go through that agony again.

By: bettyblue

bettyblue — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:04:22 +0000

We have it all over in Juneau, AK!

By: Louisa

Louisa — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:07:27 +0000

As I look in my backyard every spring (which backs up to swampy town-owned land) here in Monroe, and drive to church through Easton, CT, I see so many skunk cabbage plants, and have always thought God put so many on this Earth for a reason…I’ve even suggested to a young parishioner (Ph.D. in molecular biology, who’s researching a hormone in gila monster saliva for use to treat diabetes!!!) that there must be SOMETHING useful (besides food for wild turkeys) from them, since they’re so plentiful around here!