Skunk CabbageSymplocarpus foetidus

The Earliest Wildflower

Endothermy in Plants

• Skunk cabbage– plants in family Araceae use metabolic heat to

warm flowers…are thermogenic– infloresence is 15-35°C higher than environment;

melts snow– heat produced by high rate of respiration (starch

transported from root to inflorescence)– metabolic rate varies with environmental

temperature