http://www.nature.com/nsu/030519/030519-13.html
May 27, 2003
The world's biggest-ever bloom opened in Germany yesterday. At more than 2.7 metres tall, the Titan Arum flowering in the University of Bonn Botanical Garden beats the previous record - set 70 years ago - by 7 centimetres.
Hothouse Titan Arums rarely flower, but when they do, they are hard to ignore. The colossal lily-shaped blooms smell of rotting flesh - hence the plant's nickname 'the corpse flower'. By mimicking a carcass in decay, the brownish flowers attract insects that deposit their eggs inside the plant, spreading its pollen in the process.
Coincidently, a smaller Titan Arum also opened yesterday at Fullerton Arboretum, part of California State University
Amorphophallus titanium is also known as the "corpse flower". Nature reported on May 27, 2003, that a specimen in Germany would bloom at more than 2.7 meters tall.
There's one at the Huntingdon. It bloomed in 1999 ; it was the first time it had bloomed outdoors in cultivation. It flowered in ; pictures are available here:http://www.desertsong.com/sgvcss/Amorphophallus.html
There's one at Kew Gardens, in England. It bloomed in 2003. You can see it here
Evidently, there's an Amorphophallus titanium at the Controversial Nursuryman Magazine [WARNING not work safe, nekkid wimmen] has a whole issue devoted to plants that smell bad.
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