From Plant Press, Vol. 6, No. 4 from October 2003.
On July 23, Amorphophallus titanum, commonly known as the Titan arum or the corpse flower, bloomed with a 4-foot tall inflorescence at the United States Botanic Garden (USBG). This species produces the largest unbranched flowering inflorescence in the world. A native to the rainforest of Sumatra, it typically grows in the moist shaded soils on the forest floor. On July 25, as the inflorescence approached its final days before collapse, Dan Nicolson collected and prepared herbarium material by dissecting the inflorescence. USBG donated the inflorescence to the United States National Herbarium, which will preserve its value far into the future.
USBG arranged for a group of educators from the American Horticultural Society, who had convened the 2003 National Youth Gardening Symposium in Alexandria, Virginia, to hear Nicolson narrate the dissection. This proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear a specialist in the aroid family talk about the Titan arum and see him at work.
Nicolson, with Deborah Bell, first removed the spathe, measuring about 30-inches at its widest point. It was divided into half—one half to be pickled, and the other half for drying in a plant press. Anna Weitzman wrote notes in Nicolson’s collection book. Nicolson then chopped off the spadix, laid it on the table, split it in half, and invited the audience to come and take a close look at the long-styled female flowers (about one-inch long) and the strings of pollen from the male flowers.
Half the spadix was used for specimens (including jars of pickled material and pollen samples for freezing). The other half of the inflorescence was put into a plastic bag and now is in a tank normally used for preserving reptiles.
Although the above ground part of the plant is gone, below ground the corm is alive and well. In its current dormant state, it will live at the USBG Production Facility greenhouses. Eventually, it will send up leaf stalks that will produce food until enough energy is stored for another bloom. This could take several years.
Additional photos of the proceedings are up at the Botany Web site.
My name is Tom Woods, I dug up a Titan plant from my neighbor's back yard, before he moved,planted in a pot, fed and cared for it, as best I could, and about seven years later, almost overnight, a stalk emerged. Eventually bloomed to my surprise, aptly named Courpse plant, smelled like rotting flesh.
Posted by: Tom Woods | 05/27/2023 at 11:07 PM
Article about my Titan plant bloom in the
Evansville Courier and Press, by
Linda Negro, Elizabeth Fisco photograph
Posted by: Tom Woods | 05/27/2023 at 11:21 PM