Lysichiton americanus is pollinated by adults of Peelecomalius testaceum (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), which feed on the pollen and use the inflorescences as a mating site. The distinctive odor produced by the inflorescences acts as an initial attractant for the beetles, which respond by initiating search behavior for yellow spathes (O. Pellmyr and J. M. Patt 1986).
Plants of this species were used as food, as medicine, and also in the material culture of Native Americans of northwestern North America (S. A. Thompson 1995). Although considered to be a famine food and rarely part of the diet under normal conditions, almost all parts were eaten. Perhaps the most important and widely used parts of Lysichiton americanus were the large, waxy leaves, which served the same functions as waxed paper does today. Medicinal use of the leaves, especially as a poultice for burns and injuries, was widespread among northwestern Native Americans. Like Symplocarpus foetidus, this species is widely planted in European gardens (F. W. Case 1992).
