Symplocarpus
(from symploke, connection, and karpos, fruit; alluding to the coalescence of the ovaries into a compound fruit). SYNS. Ictodes, Spathyema. ORD. Aroideae (Araceae). A monotypic genus. The species is a large, robust, hardy, aquatic perennial, having a similar foetid odour to that of the skunk. It succeeds in a marshy situation, preferring peat soil. Increased by divisions.
S. foetidus (foetid). Meadow or Skunk Cabbage, &c. fl. all fertile; spathe spotted and striped with purple and yellowish-green, ventricose or conchoid, curved at apex, thickly coriaceous, persistent; spadix violet, included, globular, short-stalked, entirely covered with thickly-crowded flowers; peduncle very short. May. l. 1ft. to 2ft. long, ample, ovate-cordate, acute, thickly coriaceous, with thick nerves; petioles short, robust, long-sheathing. Rootstock descending. h. 1ft. America, North-eastern Asia, and Japan. (B. M. 3224.) SYN. Pothos foetidus (B. M. 836).