Graveolent: Strongly scented, often unpleasantly so.*
Symplocarpus foetidus, commonly known as eastern skunk cabbage, is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring. It’s just starting to poke up in wetland areas of the ravine. It produces a fetid odour to attract its early pollinators – mostly flies.
*Allaby, M. (2006). A dictionary of plant sciences (Revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.