We have an interesting botanical contribution from Robert Woolley. who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. His narrative, about a single flower, is indented, and you can enlarge the flower by clicking on the photos. This was sent on March 11.
Back in November, you posted about a “corpse flower” (Amorphophallus titanum) blooming in the Appalachian State University greenhouse, a couple hours away from my home in Asheville. So I drove up there the next day to see it. Unfortunately, it barely had any scent at all, not living up to its reputation—but it was still a thrill to see it in bloom.
So I was excited yesterday when a friend told me that there was another corpse flower blooming right here in Asheville, at the North Carolina Arboretum. I went there today—and it’s not quite true. It’s a giant-sized flower with allegedly similar “rotting flesh” smell, but completely unrelated phylogenetically. Still, it’s quite a striking thing.
It’s a “Voodoo Lily,” Amorphophallus konjac. You can read all about this species here.
It had so little scent that I wasn’t even sure if I was smelling it or just the background smell of all the other vegetation in the greenhouse. Even with my nose down inside it, I detected nothing like rotting flesh. So another round of disappointment, but tempered by the fact that it’s just a really cool-looking plant, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.
Wow! That is so weird. I am surprised they let people get close to it. Perhaps the smell starts if it gets warm enough?
I can catch a whiff from here!
Is it possible that both of the plants’ flowers have the intense odor when they first open, but then the odor disperses over time and loses its intensity? That happens with many flowers, even flowering bulbs.
This is SO cool.
I want one. Or two. 🙂
“Amorphophallus konjac is a member of the Aroid family (Areaceae) and is native to subtropical regions of Southeast Asia where the corm (a modified stem organ in plants that stores starches underground) is used as a food source, especially in Japan.”
https://www.bio.upenn.edu/news/2018/03/12/award-winning-voodoo-lily
If you want a more reasonably sized “stinky plant” there are
many species of stapeliads commercially available from
specialized nurseries.
Thank you Mike. Noted. I may get one.
I had it for years on the window board, although it never flowered. .
Japan is in subtropical Southeast Asia? News to me …
What impresses me about these plants is that they have evolved to not only smell like rotting flesh but also to look like it. The fourth and sixth pictures could almost be of a slab of raw beef left in the sun for a couple of days.
That’s one giant flower! We saw one of the stinky flowers at the University of Washington greenhouse once. My wife tells me it smelled badly but, alas, I don’t remember.
Pretty amazing flower! Hope to see one sometime. Thanks for sharing!
OK, so WordPress seems to have a problem with me embedding a link on the odorant spectrum in Amorphophallus. There are over 400 different compounds, anyway, and their ratios vary over time.
Impressive looks! I have never smelled any of the supposedly rotting flesh smelling plants (glad to hear it’s not that intense), but there’s one flower that is supposed to have a vile stink, Geranium robertianum (Stinky Bob), very frequent where I live, and I happen to love that smell.
So interesting. I enjoyed the different perspectives you photographed. Plants, birds and insects all exhibit such amazing variation. My favorite things!