Lanterns in the muck

 As soon as the snow and ice have gone, at least in the lower areas, I start looking out for skunk cabbages. They're not quite the first sign of spring; the red alder catkins have been flowering since early February; so have the snowdrops in my garden , and now the crocuses are out, but the skunk cabbages are the first bright lights to enliven the dim understory.

These were hiding under the bank of the river a few days ago.

Lysichiton americanum, aka Swamp Lantern.

The flowers appear before the leaves.

The leaves, in a few weeks, will cover all this muddy area. They grow to 1.5 metres long.

I looked up the dates of the first skunk cabbage sighting of each year since I arrived here in Campbell River. 8 springs. They showed up 4 years in April, twice at the end of March, and then, last year, really early, the third week in February. And this time, the 6th of March.

Next spring bloom to look for: salmonberry flowers.

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Cuando el hielo se ha ido, por lo menos en sitios bajos, cerca del mar, empiezo a buscar las flores de la col de los pantanos, Lysichiton americanus. No son las primeras flores de la primavera; las candelillas de los alisos rojos han estado en flor desde febrero, y también las campanillas de invierno en mi jardín; ahora las crocus han abierto sus flores. Pero la col de los pantanos son las primeras luces (linternas, las llaman) que alumbran los sitios oscuros del sotobosque.

Estas se escondían bajo arbustos en la orilla del rio hace unos pocos dias.

1. Otro nombre común es "Linterna de los Pantanos".
2. Las flores salen antes que las hojas.
3. En unas pocas semanas las hojas cubrirán todo este sitio lodoso. Crecen hasta metro y medio de largo.

Busqué las fechas de la primera vista de col de los pantanos de cada año desde que llegué aquí a Campbell River. Son 8 primaveras ya. En cuatro de esos años aparecieron en abril, dos veces al final de marzo, y el año pasado, muy temprano, en la tercera semana de febrero. Y ahora, el dia 6 de marzo.

Muy pronto ahora, espero encontrar las flores de salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis.

Swamp thing

This is a good year for skunk cabbage. I see them everywhere, in large groups. Even on hillsides!

With good reason they call them swamp lanterns. This in a ditch beside the road in the Rock Bay forest.

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Este es un buen año para las coles fétidas, también llamadas, con amplia razón, la linterna del pantano. Este año aparecen por donde quiera, aun en las laderas, en grandes números.

Esta está creciendo en una zanja al lado del camino en el bosque de Rock Bay.

AKA swamp lanterns

I did find those skunk cabbages. Behind a stand of salmonberry canes, on the far side of a slippery, muddy creek. Not accessible from the trail system. Typical skunk cabbage behaviour. (I passed another thickly-populated patch in a separate wetland yesterday. It was just as unreachable without jungle-whacking tools and high rubber boots.)

Two loners had separated themselves from the pack. I could get close to one, in camera range from the next.

This one was on my side of the creek. Fresh and new, with small leaves. The leaves around it, down in the mud, are creeping buttercup, an invasive species.

The spadix and its enclosing spathe. The white flowers are lined up along the spadix.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of numerous, densely packed, perfect flowers in a cylindric spike 7-12 cm long, the spike on a 30- to 50-cm long stalk and subtended by a yellowish bract similar to the leaves in shape but much smaller ... (E-Flora) (my emphasis)

"Perfect flowers" just means that they include male and female parts, but I'm sure the beetles find them perfect based on different criteria. The flowers have four petals, closely clasped around the centre.

The skunky smell attracts flies and beetles, which pollinate the flowers. It is rare to find a flower spike without them; this one is new, and seems not to have gathered any yet.

Another young plant, with one mature flower spike, two hidden new ones. And more buttercups.