''Symplocarpus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of flowering plants in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). ...

, native to

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and eastern

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.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The genus is characterized by having large leaves and deep root systems with

contractile root Contractility refers to the ability for self-contraction, especially of the muscles or similar active biological tissue *Contractile ring in cytokinesis *Contractile vacuole *Muscle contraction **Myocardial contractility *See contractile cell for ...

s used for changing the plant's level with the ground. ''Symplocarpus'' species grow from a rhizome and their leaves release a foul odor when crushed.Flora of North America Vol. 22, ''Symplocarpus foetidus'' (Linnaeus) Salisbury ex W. P. C. Barton, Veg. Mater. Med. U.S. 1: 123. 1817.
/ref> The best known species is ''

Symplocarpus foetidus ''Symplocarpus foetidus'', commonly known as skunk cabbage or eastern skunk cabbage (also swamp cabbage, clumpfoot cabbage, or meadow cabbage, foetid pothos or polecat weed), is a low growing plant that grows in wetlands and moist hill slopes o ...

'', commonly called "skunk cabbage".

Species

# '' Symplocarpus egorovii'' N.S.Pavlova & V.A.Nechaev - Primorye region of Russia # ''

'' (L.) Salisb. ex W.P.C.Barton - southeastern Canada and northeastern United States, from Tennessee to Minnesota and Nova ScotiaBiota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution map
/ref> # '' Symplocarpus nabekuraensis'' Otsuka & K.Inoue - Mt. Nabekura in west-central Honshu in Japan # '' Symplocarpus nipponicus'' Makino - Korea, northern Japan, northeastern China # '' Symplocarpus renifolius'' Schott ex Tzvelev - Russian Far East, Korea, northern Japan, northeastern China

References

Araceae genera Orontioideae {{Araceae-stub