March 28 Skunk Cabbage

March 28 Skunk Cabbage
Originally uploaded by sointula.

Spring is upon us. These young blooms do not smell skunkish. They are hiding beneath new salal shoots. Both will get much larger before long. Salal is harvested here and sold to the florist industry. The berries are edible, with a unique but somewhat bland flavour. Salal berries were a significant food resource for first nations peopleand the large leaves of the skunk cabbage were used by first nations for wrapping around salmon when baked under a fire.