Floral scent of eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus: Araceae)

Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Salisb. (eastern skunk cabbage) occurs across a broad geographic range of northeastern North America, blooming in winter between December and March. The inflorescences are well-known for their thermogenic and thermoregulatory metabolic capabilities. The perceptual qualities of their fetid floral aroma have been described widely in the literature, but to date the floral volatile composition remained largely unknown. Here we present a detailed study of the floral scent produced by S. foetidus collected from intact female- and male-stage inflorescences and from dissected floral parts. Our results show a large range of biosynthetically diverse volatiles including nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, monoterpenes, benzenoids, and aliphatic esters and alcohols. We document high inter-individual variation with some organ-specific volatile trends but no clear strong variation based on sexual stage. Multivariate data analysis revealed two distinct chemotypes from our study populations that are not defined by sexual stage or population origin. The chemotype differences may explain the bimodal perceptual descriptions in earlier work which vary between highly unpleasant/fetid and pleasant/apple-like. We discuss the results in ecological contexts including potential for floral mimicry, taking into account existing pollination studies for the species. We also discuss the results in evolutionary contexts, comparing our scent data to published scent data from the close sister species Symplocarpus renifolius. Future work should more closely examine the chemotype occurrence and frequency within these and other populations, and the impact these chemotypes may have on pollinator attraction and reproductive success.