This is the green house at the Huntington Library and Gardens. We received a members only invitation last week to see the “Big Stinky”.
The Big Stinky or the Corpse Flower is housed in this Tropical Rain Forest, warm rainy summer all year at an average temperature of 77 degrees F.
This flower plant is referred to as the world’s largest flower. It is a cluster of flowers called inflorescence. And hundreds of tiny flowers are hidden at the base of the spadix. And it stinks too! There is a squeezable spray bottle where you can try to smell. Eeew! it stunk.
Why the big fuss? Because it can go for many years without flowering, and when it does, the bloom will only last one or two days. We look forward to our invitation to see the bloom.
The Huntington, in 1999, was the first site in California to have this bloom. The same plant bloomed again in 2002. This year, 2009, is the third time.
The
titan arum or
Amorphophallus titanum (from
Ancient Greek amorphos, “without form, misshapen” +
phallos, “
penis“, and
titan, “giant”) is a
flowering plant with the largest unbranched
inflorescence in the world. The largest
single flower is borne by the
Rafflesia arnoldii; the largest
branched inflorescence in the
plant kingdom belongs to the
Talipot palm (
Corypha umbraculifera). It thrives at the edges of rainforests near open grasslands. Though found in many botanic gardens around the world it is still indigenous only to the tropical forests of Sumatra. Due to its
fragrance, which is reminiscent of the smell of a decomposing mammal,
[1] the titan arum is also known as a
carrion flower, the “Corpse flower”, or “Corpse plant” (in
Indonesian, “bunga bangkai” –
bunga means flower, while
bangkai means corpse or cadaver; for the same reason, the same title is also attributed to
Rafflesia which, like the titan arum, also grows in the
rainforests of
Sumatra).
June 16th, 2009 at 3:03 am
I’ve heard a lot about this flower but I’ve never actually seen one. Amazing how something that smells so unplesant can reveal something so beautiful. Hope you get the chance to see it in full bloom.
Rach (Heart of Rachel)’s last blog post..Back To School
June 16th, 2009 at 8:03 am
What a great greenhouse. I’m waiting in anticipation of your picture of the “corpse flower”. (I love buterflies too!)
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June 16th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
How cool! Is it still there? Will it only be for viewing by members only?
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June 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Hi Ebie, I have not seen this stinkyplant before . We do have another stinky plant called Rafflesia also claimed to be the largest flower in the world!!
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June 17th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Hi Vicky, I have read about Rafflesia. While both of them are flowering plants, both of them may also be referred to as the corpse flower. Rafflesia is the largest according to its weight, while the Arum is the largest unbranched inflorescence. We just got an email saying that the Arum has already bloomed and we might be going on Friday.
June 21st, 2009 at 7:02 am
[...] Wednesday from the Huntington Gardens, that the Titan Arum or Corpse Flower (see my previous post here) that “The Corpse Flower began to open at 2 p.m. today, and with the flowering came the [...]