Botanists around the world must be giggling excitedly at this truly once-in-a-lifetime event. The Titan Arum plant, also known as the Corpse Flower, has unfurled its leaves and is in full bloom for the first time in 75 years. Its smell is described as “a pungent odour of rotting flesh.” Lovely.
Titan Arum is coveted by collectors and plant enthusiasts around the world because of its strange blooming patterns. It produces umbrella-sized petals which open to a diameter of three to four feet. Its distinctive smell can be detected from half a mile away. The odour, which is usually strongest at night, is meant to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles and flesh flies. Charming.
Sir David Attenborough, who invented the name Titan Arum, was the first to capture it flowering on film for his TV series The Private Life of Plants. He dropped the plant’s original name – Amorphophallus – because of the reference to male genitalia. As you’ll see from the images below, the reference had its merit.
[Source: Daily Mail]
