In message , Sacha
writes
On 2010-05-05 19:53:48 +0100, "shazzbat"
said:

We went to the allotment today by a different route to the usual, and
on the way we spotted this plant in a roadside ditch. We haven't seen
it there in previous years. What is it?

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...stuff/05May001
.jpg

Skunk cabbage - very handsome.

The BSBI (http://www.bsbi.org.uk) might be interested.

That's the yellow, western or American skunk cabbage, Lysichiton
americanum. There's also a northeast Asian species with white spathes.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley