Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), sometimes calle yellow skunk cabbage, is a plant found in swamps and wet woods, along streams and in other wet areas of the Pacific Northwest, where it is one of the few native species in the arum family, together with the duckweeds. The plant grows from rhizomes that measure 30 cm or longer, and 2.5 to 5 cm in diameter. The leaves are the largest of any native plant in the region, 50-135 cm long and 30-80 cm wide when mature. Its flowers are produced in a spadix contained within a large, bright yellow or yellowish green spathe 30-40 cm tall; it is among the first flowers to appear in spring. The skunk cabbage also produces heat. During the Winter the heat it produces melts the snow around it so that it is able to survive. Although similarly named, the plant is easy to distinguish from the Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), another species in the arum family found in eastern North America.