One of the world’s largest (and smelliest) flowers blooms every 6-15 years and is called the titan arum or corpse flower. And while they originate from the Sumatran forests of Indonesia, this week, the giant blooms for the first time at the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden!
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This Titan Arum Lily (Amorphophallus titanium) is the second individual in Souther Africa to flower. One of the staff at the SUBG, Bruce Esau, said: “We’ve re-potted the Titan Arum Lily for the last two years and have noted a significant growth in corm size. We’ve been waiting 15 years for this moment!”
The gigantic flower begun unfurling on the 12th of December 2022 at around 3PM. It will only stay in bloom for 48 hours.
The plant structure reaches heights of approximately 3m (in full bloom). Its incredible size is not the only fascinating characteristic. The corpse flower produces a foul stink similar to refuse, and heats itself up to 36 degrees Celsius. Donovan Kirkwood, curator at the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden says there is a “bunch of girl flowers at the bottom and a section of boy flowers above that, with the tip of the spike devoted to being really stinky.” He explains further that, “when it is flowering that spadix actually generates heat – it is one of the few plants that generates its own heat while it is growing.”
This heating mechanism aids the diffusion of its stink. This is done to attract its main pollinators – flies – mimicking the odour of a rotting corpse.
This flower is highly endangered, about 1000 specimens are left in the wild. This is largely due to habitat loss in the rain forests of Sumatra. Now occupied by palm oil plantations.
The SUBG says, “though we aren’t directly involved in the conservation of the Titan Arum Lily itself, the spectacle of the flower at the gardens is a wonderful educational prompt to the public”.
SOURCES: DAILY MAVERICK
SOURCES: STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY BOTANICAL GARDEN
