Skunk cabbage
General poisoning notes:
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is a robust native herb found in wet marshy areas in parts of eastern Canada. Ingesting the plant can cause intense pain and irritation in the mouth area after chewing the roots or leaves (Lampe and McCann 1985). No case reports of such irritation were found in the literature for humans or livestock.
Description
Roots fleshy, contractile. Rhizomes thick, to 30 cm or more. Leaves: petiole sheathed basally, 5--57 cm; blade thick, 10--60´ 7--40 cm; primary lateral veins parallel, branching apically, interprimary veins anastomosing. Inflorescences at ground level; spathe hoodlike, 6--13(--18) cm, fleshy, apex acuminate, twisted or incurved, not persisting in fruit; spadix short-stipitate, somewhat flattened dorsiventrally, 2--3´ 1.5--3 cm. Flowers covering spadix; tepals 4, yellowish to dark red-purple; stamens 4, dehiscing longitudinally; ovaries 1-locular; ovules 1. Infructescences dark purple-green to dark red-brown, globose to oblong or ovoid, 4--7(--10) cm. Seeds brown, 7--15 mm diam. 2n = 60.
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Nutt.
Vernacular name(s): skunk cabbage
Scientific family name: Araceae
Vernacular family name: arum
Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Nutt.
Geographic Information
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec.
Toxic parts:
Leaves, roots.
Toxic plant chemicals:
Oxalate.
Animals/Human Poisoning:
Note: When an animal is listed without additional information, the literature (as of 1993) contained no detailed explanation.
Humans
General symptoms of poisoning:
Aphonia, dysphagia, hoarseness, mouth, irritation of.
