Skunk Cabbage

 Though not the most elegant plant in the forest... it is one of the more interesting.
It is the first to appear in the Northeast, flowering February to May. It is again an early source of pollen for bees. It is a little oasis during the still very cold months for bees. If it warms up enough to venture out of their hive, the bees can travel to this carrion smelling flower and nestle into the opening of the spathe to find a spadix that produces a temperature of around 70 degrees F. The bee is free to gather pollen in the spring like temperature of the Skunk Cabbage. Birds and frogs have been known to take advantage of its warmth also.
Thoreau wrote " If you are affected with melancholy at this season, go to the swamp and see the brave spears of Skunk Cabbage buds already advanced toward a new year."

Where I found it : In a swampy wet land not far from the river.