Maintaining a safe temperature is essential for nearly all forms of life. Animals have developed complex systems to maintain an ideal temperature such as shivering and sweating, but such thermoregulatory systems are not unique animals. The eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) utilizes controlled metabolic heating to maintain a specific elevated temperature in its flower. Other plant species have evolved the ability to generate heat, but the skunk cabbage is unique in its ability to maintain its temperature within approximately 1℃ from its ideal 23.6℃, even in variable and freezing conditions. We have mechanistically modeled skunk cabbage thermogenesis by developing a finite element model of heat transfer and fluid flow in the blooming skunk cabbage. The model includes a variable heat generation function which mimics the natural heating behavior under changing outside conditions, allowing for close analysis of the thermoregulatory behavior and the energetic costs of heating. In simulated outside temperatures from 10℃ to -10℃, the generation ranged from 0.07W to 0.17W to maintain ideal temperatures in the center of the flower. This model displays the impact that changes in temperature can have on the skunk cabbage due to the dramatically increased energetic cost of heating at colder temperatures. The complex behavior of the skunk cabbage has evolved to maintain temperatures within an acceptable range at a minimized energetic cost. Understanding this thermoregulatory system provides insights that may be used in future development of surfaces used to prevent ice accumulation and other systems that require low cost thermal regulation.