[8] The plant produces a strong odor, which is repulsive to many but sometimes described as smelling like "fresh cabbage with a slight suggestion of mustard".

As time elapses the entire stem is buried below ground and the plant becomes practically impossible to dig up.

Their mottling closely mimics the fluttering lights and hues frequently observed on underbrush as the sun passes through the leaves of the trees above.

[7] Eastern skunk cabbage flowers have both male and female reproductive organs, making them perfect.

Dichogamy, or the division of gender expression into two temporal periods, is a common feature of blooming plants and serves to avoid self-fertilization.

Because the flowers are protogynous, the pistils, which are the female reproductive components, reach sexual maturity before the male parts do (stamens).

[7] Symplocarpus foetidus reproduce by hard, pea-sized seeds which, when fully grown, drop onto the slimy substrate after developing inside the spadix.

Five years later, the American botanist William P. C. Barton provided a valid description for Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Salisb.

[18] Eastern skunk cabbage blooms while there is snow and ice on the ground, yet early insects that also emerge at this time effectively pollinate it.

The fact that the spathe is warmer than the surrounding air may induce carrion-feeding insects to enter it more than once, promoting pollination.

[7] Numerous Native American cultures employed the eastern skunk cabbage substantially as a medicinal herb, spice, and mystical talisman.

It was employed as the medicine "dracontium" in pharmaceutical goods from 1820 until 1882 to treat respiratory conditions, neurological disorders, rheumatism, and dropsy.

[21] Internal administration of the plant's rootstock can be used to treat a variety of respiratory and nervous conditions, including hay fever, asthma, whooping cough, catarrh, and bronchitis.

[20] Since its roots are antispasmodic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, expectorant, and slightly narcotic, it is not recommended to directly consume the raw plant.

[20] While high quantities of the root can produce nausea and vomiting, headaches, and dizziness, handling the fresh leaves can burn skin.