MT HOOD NATIVE PLANTS

Swamp Lanterns

Lighting Forest and Woodlands Each Spring

As winter darkness starts giving way to longer days on Mt. Hood, shady wet woods, stream banks and bogs are further lit with the Lysichiton americanus.

This plant thrives on moist to wet acidic soil and produces a great deal of heat that melts snow around when it bursts forth in the early spring.  The bright yellow spathe (or bracht) surrounding its candle-like flower presentation resembles a brightly shining lantern, hence one of its common names, “Swamp Lantern.”

For early spring hikers who savor the various fragrances of each season in forest and woodland, Lysichiton’s other common name of “Yellow Skunk Cabbage” is very apt.  It has been described as a combination of “garlic, carrion and skunk.” This scent attracts pollinating insects.

Lysichiton is a member of the Arum family and related to a Polynesian staple food taro.  While edible, Lysichiton americanus is high in calcium oxalate which produces stinging or burning in the mouth when chewed raw.  And in the digestive tract, it creates a sensation described as “hundreds of needles being stuck into it.”  While bears forage on its roots, which serve as a cathartic after long winter hibernation, humans typically will dry or thoroughly cook the plant before eating it. 

It is not frequently used as an herb.  There are historical records of Lysichiton’s medical uses as a root poultice for sores, burns, swellings.  Its leaves can be used as “waxed paper”, hence its use for lining baskets, for wrapping food for baking and for shaping into containers for berry foraging.

MAY/JUNE 2008 « Back to this issue...