Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire what's this plant?

It's very common throughout the Rockies. I just don't know it's name.

By contrast, I know this one all too well, wyethia or mules ear. I call them DEW plants, for 'deer early warning'. When they dry off, stepping on one will warn every deer within 1/4 mile that you're coming.

We always referred to that as skunk cabbage

According to my book "Weeds of the West", it is California false-hellebore or [/i]Veratrum californicum[i]var [/i]caudatum[i]

"This native plant is found most commonly in swamps, creek bottoms, meadows, and moist woodlands at medium altitudes in our mountainous areas. Falsehellebore is toxic to humans and livestock, the poison reaction occurring within 2 to 3 hours after the plant is consumed. It causes congenital deformity in lambs known as "monkey face", as well as abortion when pregnant ewes feed on the plant. Since it is commonl found in mountain meadows around watering places, it is readily accessible to grazing livestock. Flowering occurs from June to August."

That's the one.

Ok, thanks. It's good to know that it's toxic to livestock. I've had my llamas around it quite a bit but have never seen them try to eat it. We were on a pack trip this last weekend and there was plenty of this and also water hemlock everywhere.

I don't see it alot in most of my country but have seen it on some big sheep ranches and they didn't seem to have much trouble with their sheep eating it.

That water hemlock is absolutely nasty.

It's very common across so. Idaho where there's decent moisture.

We always called that skunk cabbage, and it's smell earned it the name. It makes for tough stalks on deer in the fall when it's dried out!

Mules Ear and Skunk Cabbage are 2 very different plants that live in entirely different environments. Skunk Cabbage is found in moist, swampy environs while Mules Ear is found in dry, well drained sagebrush environments.

Skunk Cabbage has a definite “aroma” and is often smelled before it’s seen. Mules Ear dries out and is often heard before it’s seen. 😁

Mules Ear is also a toilet paper substitute. It’s “Charmin” soft.

That sounds like how I'd call them too. But folks use all kinds of different common names for plants. And they tend to be regional.

Ralphie, I know what you mean but the difference between the two is night and day. Having grown up in the West I’ve come to know the flora and fauna well and I try to help others with taxonomic identification. I’ve never heard anyone call Mules Ear, Skunk Cabbage or vice versa. Skunk Cabbage has clusters of tiny flowers clustered close together on a stalk (spadix) that’s surrounded or encapsulated by a leaf-like spathe. while Mules Ear has sunflower looking flowers. Mules Ear is in the Aster family while Skunk Cabbage is in the Arum family. The leaf structure is completely different as well. Skunk Cabbage has glossy, waxy looking leaves while Mules Ear is soft and fuzzy. The 2 grow in completely different environments as well. There’s no confusing one with the other except in cases of misidentification. I don’t mean to come across as a contrarian but I don’t want someone to McCandless themselves over a minor misidentification. 😁

Skunk Cabbage is always found in wet ground like swamps, bogs and muskeg while Mules Ear is always found in dry ground like the sagebrush steppe country east of the Cascades.

Okay, that's enough, we get the picture!🤢

Funny they call it false hellebore. I don't see a similarity.

Those common names are a real pain sometimes. Aces, I like knowing the local plants too, but asking some locals gets frustrating when they call something it isn't.

I can sorta see the false hellebore/skunk cabbage confusion, but like you, not the mules ears.

I have a friend who calls prickly lettuce "thistle". I try to correct him, but I've given up. Not sure, might just be what folks around here have always called it, as it's a bit spiny like a thistle.

At least around here a creek is a creek, and not some other funky name.

Geno

To my dad, Canada thistle was always 'cactus'. Nothing could change that.

Skunk cabbage and false hellebore are quite different. Compare my OP photo of FH with this pic of western skunk cabbage.

Yep RC, especially easy to see the difference when flowering. I can see where a person could confuse them based on leaf shape before they start to flower though.

Geno

I looked skunk cabbage up, and the yellow daisy flower looking plant isn't it. I was wro....wro...wron...

I was a bit mistaken.

Lolol.....I can’t say that word either. 😂

Once I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken.

what kind of mushroom is this.