They're blooming, even in late February. If there were snow on the ground, their warmth would have melted a ring around the plant's spathe - a brownish, purplish "teepee" that protects the flower. If you were to crush this flower and its cover, you would be treated to a smell like decaying flesh.

You'd be smelling the skunk cabbage, the first of the woodland plants to bloom. These remarkable plants arise so early in the spring that they must create sufficient warmth within their protective shelter that the blossom will develop and mature even through late winter cold snaps.

Being an early riser has its benefits. The earliest insects, attracted by the smell and color of the plant, pollinate the tiny flowers inside its protective hood. The skunk cabbage has ensured its survival before its competition is barely awake!

As the season advances, large green leaves unfurl from the tightly packed spathe and cover the moist ground of the inland wetlands upon which they grow. Indeed, the skunk cabbage is one of the most prominent signal plants of an inland wetland; they don't do well anywhere else.

It is a welcome sign of spring, the skunk cabbage. The deep purple-to-red coloration of the spathe is in pleasant contrast to the lifeless ground cover surrounding it. And the large bright green leaves are a sure sign that the parade of woodland plants has begun.