Thursday, May 02, 2002

Amorphophallus Titanum

Say the first word slowly... Yes, that really is its name...

For those who did not spend two years in Mario Rivela's high school Latin class -- I will translate:

Roughly it means -- Gigantic Changing Penis.

Also called the corpse flower and devil's tongue.

This is something I won't be planting in the yard anytime soon.

Blooming for three days, its odor is described as "a mixture of rotting flesh and excrement."

*Yummy*

++Insert your own Fruedian digression.++

Click here for an article on one currently in bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, UK.

The RBG Kew has a special page for this rare occurrence. Complete with updating photos of the plant.

The photos take time to load... patience.

There have been at least fourteen blooms in the US in the last century. A witty account of the process at the University of Washington in 1999 produces this tidbit:

In Sumatra, the smell attracts carrion beetles and other pollinators. Here, it attracts students and other visitors. A little science slips in: “There are more than 170 species similar to the A. titanum, and many have distinct odor and heating properties. [Ewing] is using an infrared camera to study the powerful heating of the plant’s spadix by internal chemical reactions. That process, called thermogenesis, generates the odor that attracts the insects.”

A better explanation of how the flower generates heat -- raising the temperature as much as 10 degrees -- here.

And finally here is an account of how an ordinary person can acquire and nurture their very own voodoo lily.

posted by Bohica at 12:12 PM