Take This Winter! (Pic Heavy)

[catjac1975]

You usually smell it before you see it. It looks like a lovely hosta when grown and smells like it's namesake when disturbed.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Thanks for the compliments.

I find that the skunk cabbages have varying amounts of yellow and red streaking when it comes to the flowers, I've seen some that are almost completely yellow. My guess is that this would be due to the acidity of the spot they're growing in (flowers with more red being in a spot of higher acidity) or maybe the amount of light they receive (the red being most prominent in plants growing in the sunniest places). You can eat them if and only if they are prepared right. I do not recommend it as it takes a lot to render them edible and the cooked greens smell bad and looks gross. I can not say how the taste is as I will eat just about anything. As Cat mentioned they are supposed to smell bad when flowering or injured but I can't really smell much when walking through them; all I can smell is something like pond scum which is actually enjoyable after being stuck inside all winter. There's a northwestern species of Skunk Cabbage with lemon-yellow flowers but I don't think it occurs in Oklahoma.

Concerning the black slime it looks like you've identified it Digit, thanks. I've actually came across something very similar last fall, but it was transparent and honey-colored. Maybe the same fungi in different stages of development?

I've been stuck with a heavy load of schoolwork for the past two days but with see if I can make it further upland tomorrow, to my neighbor's property. She has a good 200 acres or so of thick, upland (but still lowland, almost mid-way) forest and I have permission to walk the whole thing. I've been there before but not at this time of year so I'm exciting to see what I'll find.

A big snowstorm is supposed to hit my area tonight, if it does I think it will be the last big storm for the Midwest (can't say for Michigan). Spring is definitely coming! If any of you happen to have a camera in your hands when you see a sign of spring please feel free to add on!