Wildflower (forb) · Araceae
Skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus
Skunk cabbage is recorded as native to 22 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 483 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Skunk cabbage at a glance
- Native in
- 483 counties, across 22 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Skunk cabbage is recorded as native to 22 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 483 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 483 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 25 counties
- Indiana 32 counties
- Kentucky 2 counties
- Maine 11 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 39 counties
- Minnesota 15 counties
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 28 counties
- North Carolina 8 counties
- Ohio 60 counties
- Pennsylvania 64 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- Tennessee 3 counties
- Vermont 5 counties
- Virginia 77 counties
- West Virginia 13 counties
- Wisconsin 53 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 40 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Not recorded
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Araceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SYFO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Symplocarpus foetidus (PLANTS symbol SYFO).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources