Weather at Bedford, Hanscom Field, MA - via NOAA's National Weather Service

Thursday, October 29, 2009

which season?

So I am pretty well convinced that it is fall. There are leaves coming down all over the place, especially in yesterday's wet, windy weather. It gets cooler each day. The days are getting shorter - or at least, the amount of daylight in each day is decreasing.
But look at this!

This is a skunk cabbage! And I took this picture less than an hour ago!
I thought skunk cabbage was a SPRING plant. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I am very surprised and curious. It has not been a particularly warm fall. I don't think that the flies that act as pollinators for skunk cabbage are still around. I found three of these today, the first by accident as I was inspecting the edge of my stream, and the subsequent two when I searched for more. Will they last in this stage through the winter? Are they mutants? Is it the result of climate change? It will be interesting to watch...

1 comment:

  1. Emily in Lexington10:03 AM, November 12, 2009

    Hi Alex,
    I've been very surprised to see skunk cabbage like this coming up in the fall, too! They don't seem to grow over the winter as far as I have observed--they just hang out and then do their thing in the spring. I wonder if it is their way of being really ready to go when spring comes around? Good work on your blog--these are fun observations to read!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for being patient - I don't moderate comments every day, but I will get to it!