Why does the titan arum stink

Finally, the frilly leaf called a spathe—which was tightly wound around the towering spadix as it shot up—starts to loosen its grip as bloom time nears, revealing the crazy-beautiful maroon color inside. Once the spathe begins to loosen, a bloom is imminent. It's really not an exact science, but these clues give us a general time frame for the bloom. The plant generally blooms for 24 to 36 hours. After the spathe opens fully, the bloom usually lasts until the following afternoon, or in some cases, the following morning.

When a corm an underground giant tuber is grown from seed, it can take a while to reach the size necessary to support a bloom, usually about ten years. Once the plant has bloomed, however, the corm is already at a size to support another bloom, so it may take only three to seven years before it stores up enough energy to bloom again—or may rebloom much sooner, every two to three years.

A: We have heard tales of some titan arums in their natural habitats growing 10 to 12 feet tall with a bloom diameter of up to 5 feet, but more typically in cultivation, an arum reaches 6 to 8 feet in height before the spathe unfurls into a bloom, with a diameter close to 3 feet.

While it looks like a 6- to 8-foot-tall flower, the titan arum's bloom is not really a flower: Technically, the bloom is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The tall spadix flower spike is wrapped by a spathe a single, frilly, modified leaf. In its vegetative form, each Amorphophallus titanum looks like a small tree, but is actually a single umbrella-like leaf. The leaf stalk is called the petiole , and is covered in branch-like rachis , supporting the many leaflets.

Titan arum leaves can grow 8 to 15 feet tall. Did the Garden grow these plants from seed or buy the corms?

Where did the Garden get them? The Garden's titan arums came from a variety of sources, mostly as small corms. Java and Sumatra are from the same plant parent as Sprout, which was acquired from the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley in and grown from seed.

Retailers can be found online, but home cultivation is discouraged. Because the habitat for the plant is being deforested, it is unknown how common this plant is in the wild. The corm is also harvested for its starch in its native habitat of Indonesia. One corm can weigh pounds—a valuable, if possibly dwindling, food source. Why does the stink plant stink? Shouldn't those people be holding their noses? This rare blooming corpse flower is one of about a dozen or to have bloomed in the United States in the past century.

See more corpse flower pictures. More Malodorous Plants and Carrion Flowers We've already explored how the Titan Arum uses its noxious perfume to help with pollination, but the plant doesn't stop there. The Durian Fruit. Cross-Pollination Flowering Plants.

Time Lapse Video of a Titan Arum. Sources Armstrong, Wayne. April 8, July 18, June 30, Cite This! Try Our Sudoku Puzzles! More Awesome Stuff. It takes a lot of energy to heat up the flower, release the aroma, and attract pollinators. It will bloom when it has replenished the energy it exhausted blooming this time.

In the meanwhile it will produce another leaf annually until it blooms. Approximately 40 years. The inflorescence can get up to 3 meters 10 feet tall. The prize for the tallest arum goes to Amorphophallus gigas, which can be up to 4 meters 12 feet tall Gustavus, by the way, has a plant of Amorphophallus gigas in its greenhouse collection.

Other species of arums can be remarkably small: Amorphophallus pusillus from Vietnam has an inflorescence that is just 3 cm tall. More than , mostly in the tropics. Some of these species have odors that are more pleasant: carrot-like, anise, chocolate, banana, fruity, or lemon-like.

Many species in the genus Amorphophallus, including the titan arum, are highly endemic. This means that they are only found in relatively small, restricted geographic areas. If the rainforest home of these species is destroyed, we will lose these species. In , Perry was the first flowering of the corpse flower in Minnesota. It has been grown in major botanical gardens and greenhouses throughout the world. Currently the University of Connecticut and the University of California-Davis have plants that are at approximately the same stage as Perry.

Before that, the most recent flowering event was at Kew, the world-renowned botanical garden in London. Do not buy animals, birds, or plants that have been poached from forests. Join a conservation group. Learn more about tropical rainforests. Buy plantation lumber and not lumber harvested from rainforests.

It takes years of careful cultivation to grow, though it appears to be no more difficult to grow than other Amorphophallus species. Its growth cycle produces leaves, followed by periods of dormancy, until the underground structure, called a corm, has sufficient energy reserves to flower.

In summer , the Gustavus corpse flower was re-potted; the corm weighed 90 pounds. First and foremost, a plant as magnificent as Amorphophallus helps us realize the incredible complexity and diversity of the natural world.

It emphasizes the need to conserve plants and biodiversity. Species in this genus are used for food and medicine worldwide. The corm tuber and leaf stalks are boiled and eaten. The corms have been used to treat stomach ailments, fever, swelling, and diarrhea. Amorphophallus is toxic if not prepared properly as it contains calcium oxalate crystals. Decrease font size. Increase font size. Display options. Default More Most. Back to Default Settings Done. Article Preview :.