Nouns, of course, are the names of things: the names of people and places, the names of animals and plants. Things. Originally an old English word, þing ( the odd ‘p’ is a thorn, a ‘th’ sound) meant an assembly or a discussion, but gradually moved from a general discussion to a particular object. The evolution of nouns, like a journey over hill and dale, like all journeys, offers insight to those perspicacious individuals who come to the game with the mind’s eye open wide.Take skunk cabbage, for instance. The plants taxonomic name, it genius and species, is Lysichiton americanus. The genus derives from two Greek words, lysis, meaning 'loose,' and chiton, meaning 'tunic.' This taxonomic descriptive refers to the yellow spathe, a broad leaf or bracht that wraps the stalk like a monk's cowl.
Spathe, in turn, comes from another Greek term. Spathe (σπάθη) refers to a ‘broad blade’ or a ‘wide blade of a sword.’ ‘Bracht’ does not come from Greek (just to confuse the issue), but from the Latin bractea, meaning a thin metal plate.
Were a spathe made from bractea being shaped by a man wearing a lysis chiton, a brawny fellow wielding a heavy hammer with each blow molding the bladeshaped billet, sweat rolling off his forehead, the ember glow of the forge lighting the smithy with a devilish glow, the steady clang of each repetitive blow smarting the ear, a sword would slowly emerge, a tool fit to slay beasts, beasts as big as bears.
Black bears, too, were perspicacious enough to recognize skunk cabbage as an excellent food source. Rather than a staple, however, the plant is considered a specific, and serves as a purgative to "unplug" bears after a winter of no defecation. They eat flower, stalk, and root, often wallowing through the entire bog in search of the most succulent plants. As they dig, these beasts happily grunt.
Indigenous people who once lived off the land also used this plant as a valuable food source. In early spring, when winter stocks were running low, the boiled tubers of Lysichiton americanus became a staple. Eaten raw, the roots have a hot, peppery taste, and a little goes a long way; but a lengthy boil and a thirty or forty minute bake renders a piquant, tasty, nutty snack. The women who harvested skunk cabbage went about their work chattering or singing their monophonic songs. tunes punctuated with sharp vocables such as 'hey' and 'yah,' these to keep the bears at bay.
Taxonomists are keen to fix just the right label on plants and, well, things generally. Often this involves a great deal of discussion. Besides the western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), the topic of this essay (along with black bears and singing Chinooks), the eastern skunk cabbage ((Symplocarpus foetidus) provides more food for thought. Purple leaves mark this variant, and its ability to produce heat through thermogenesis allows the plant to melt its way through frozen ground in search of the sun of early spring.
