Natural Community: Red Maple Seepage Swamp Forest
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This community hosts a plant called skunk-cabbage that produces its own heat, allowing it to emerge and bloom in late winter—even with snow on the ground!
Credits
Created by Stephanie Bilodeau, Explore Natural Communities Intern Summer 2017, NatureServe.
Music: Music for Manatees, and Sneaky, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0.
Photos: Skunk-Cabbage Leaves, by Gary Fleming. Inset: Skunk-Cabbage Flowers, by Al Schotz. Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0.
References:
Skunk-Cabbage
Contractile Roots Give Skunk Cabbage Another Special Trait
Transcript
Podcast time: 2:43 minutes
[music starts] As you come to the bottom of the hill, pause and look toward the open edge of the forest. Nestled in this depression near the water is a natural community known as the Red Maple Seepage Swamp [Forest].
For most of the year, the swamp is a moist, forested area home to red maple and tuliptree . Shrubs like northern spicebush and winterberry flower here in the spring and produce red berries in the summer and fall. In the summer, the ground is covered with a variety of herbs and leafy vegetation. And in the fall, there may be little left to see. But during winter and early spring, when the ground may still be frozen, it's a great time to spot this community's most fascinating plant.
[music changes to playfully enigmatic] Even while the swamp is covered with snow, the pointed purple heads of skunk-cabbage begin to emerge from the ground. Each waxy hood encloses a ball of tiny yellow flowers. These amazing plants actually produce their own heat, melting the snow around them and flowering long before other species have emerged from their dormant winter state. The flowers may smell foul to humans and many animals—the plants are called skunk-cabbage after all—but they're perfect for attracting pollinators like flies and carrion beetles (Silphidae family).
After the hooded flowers of the skunk-cabbage emerge, the plant's large green leaves appear and cover the swamp. By mid-summer, both flowers and leaves have decayed. Cinnamon fern and the fluffy white flowers of lizard’s-tail take center stage as the skunk-cabbage goes dormant, waiting underground for the next winter.
Skunk-cabbage actually has special roots called "contractile roots" that pull the plant deeper and deeper underground as it grows. The roots are swelling and shrinking over and over toward the tip, pulling slowly, slowly downward. This keeps the body of the skunk-cabbage protected beneath the soil during the winter when it's dormant. If you've ever tried to pull up dandelions in your yard, you'll have a pretty good idea how strong these contractile roots can be.
Other species may dominate this community throughout the summer months, but anchored deep in the moist soil of the Red Maple Seepage Swamp [Forest], skunk-cabbage is waiting for its time to shine! [music changes and swells]