From Plant Press, Vol. 9, No. 1 from January 2006.
A big, rare, stinky event has happened—again! The gigantic plant, Amorphophallus titanum (commonly known as “titan arum”), part of the living research collection of the Department, was put on display in full flower at the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) Conservatory, the Department’s “Botanical Partner on the Mall.” On the morning of 8 November, the plant was brought from the Smithsonian Botany Research Greenhouses in Suitland, Maryland, to the USBG Conservatory, where it was provided with the optimal environment for growth (very warm, bright, and humid). The titan arum began its opening the evening of 19 November and slowly began to close 21 November. The spadix collapsed on 26 November. Raised from seed by Michael Bordelon, Manager of Living Collections in the Department, this was the first time that this particular plant had bloomed. Pollen collected from the 2003 flowering specimen (USBG) was used to pollinate the plant. Pollination was successful and seeds are now developing. Pollen was also collected and preserved by Dan Nicolson.
“This plant is a true wonder of nature,” said W. John Kress, who was interviewed by several media outlets. “The flower is a feast for the plant lover’s eye and will delight the olfactory senses when in full bloom.” Kress continued, “The plant is extremely rare and has only been seen by a few botanists in its native Sumatra. However, the titan arum is a spectacular example of the evolutionary diversity of complex organisms in the tropics. Investigations of such species can help us understand the processes that have shaped biodiversity on the Earth. And like many species on the planet, we must preserve the titan arum’s rain forest habitats if it is to survive.”
The renown of the titan arum comes from its great size – it is reputed to have the largest known un-branched inflorescence. The plant is native only to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. Since the first recorded bloom in the United States in 1937, titan arums have been exhibited in this country on just a few occasions. Many will recall that a titan arum owned by the USBG bloomed, for its second time, while on display at the Conservatory in July 2003, generating an enormous response of about 10,000 visitors on the peak day. As small seedlings, the USBG plant and the Smithsonian titan arum were given to the two institutions in October 1993 by Maryland arum enthusiasts Craig and Fanny Phillips. The Phillipses had grown the plants from seed collected in 1991 by California physician James R. Symon, now deceased, who had searched for the titan arum during several journeys to Sumatra. (Symon later traveled in Sumatra with Sir David Attenborough in 1993, to find the plant for the filming of the BBC production The Private Life of Plants.)
The titan arum emerges from, and stores energy in, a huge underground stem called a “corm.” The plant blooms on an unpredictable schedule, when sufficient energy is accumulated, usually after several years. The developing inflorescence initially appears as a pale green, bud-shaped structure composed of a spathe enclosing a central spike-like spadix. At first hidden inside the spathe, the spadix is revealed as the entire structure swells. At full bloom, the spathe is fully unfurled to reveal a crimson interior. The ultimate height of the spadix depends on the energy accumulated in the corm, and the speed of the development depends on day and night temperatures. The average recorded height of an inflorescence is about 5 feet, and the largest one in cultivation was 9 feet, 7 inches. In their natural habitat, titan arums can grow up to 12-feet tall. The maximum height of the Smithsonian’s titan arum was 52.50 inches (4 feet, 4.5 inches); its corm weighs over 100 pounds. At full bloom the inflorescence is well-known for smelling like rotting meat, hence it has another common name, “corpse flower.” The odor is released in pulses and attracts carrion beetles and other pollinators in the plant’s native Sumatra.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.