skunk cabbage noun Date: 1751 either of two North American perennial herbs of the arum family that occur in shaded wet to swampy areas and have a fetid odor suggestive of a skunk:, one ( Symplocarpus foetidus ) of eastern North America that sends up in spring a cowl-shaped brownish-purple spathe, one ( Lysichitum americana ) chiefly of the Pacific coast region that has a large yellow spathe
