Yesterday, I read that Virginia Tech’s horticulture department has an Amorphophallus titanum (man, that name is a trip), and it’s scheduled to bloom today. The Titan arum, as it’s known, was first discovered in Sumatra in 1878, and they bloom quite rarely, but when they do, it’s quite a scene. The 48-hour blooms are not only huge — 7-12 feet tall — but are reputed to smell disgusting (attracting pollenating insects), hence the common nickname of “corpse flower.”
Something like a dozen of these have ever bloomed in the United States, so I wasn’t about to miss it. I headed over this afternoon.
The image at left is Phil, as his caretakers call him. At this point, it’s about 60″ tall, which is a fairly formidable flower. As can be seen, it’s just starting to bloom — the red fringe around the edge is where the leaves are just starting to pull down, revealing the blood-red lining.
Walking right up to it and looking down, as appears to be the standard method of approaching the beast, it’s possible to see clear down to the base, since the flower is so close to blooming.
The ribbing on the fleshy base is pretty mesmerizing. I think I’ll make it my Mac’s desktop image.
I stuck around for a few minutes just to watch the flow of crowds. In five minutes, perhaps fifty people came and went, and every one of them wore the same look of shock when they stepped into the greenhouse. Phil is treated like a celebrity, but not an out-of-context celebrity (“Wow, what are you doing here?”), but more like one spotted on the Walk of Fame in L.A. — the side-by-side photo isn’t just likely, but actually required. I caught a few people in the act.
I didn’t get to see Phil in full bloom, but I figure this is pretty close. Frankly, I’m not sure that I’d want to — if I want to smell a rotting corpse, I’ll…erm… Well, I don’t think I want to smell a rotting corpse.