Monday, July 12, 2010

Blooming around the country is the Corpse Flower - Amorphophallus titanium

Native to Sumatra, the “corpse flower” — officially known as the amorphophallus titanium — is a flower of numerous mysteries. The flower starts as a tuber, lives most of its life as one big leaf, and then blooms into a giant, rotting-flesh-smelling flower. Corpse flowers generally only bloom two or 3 times in their lives. In several botanical gardens around the country, the amorphophallus titanium flower is emerging in all its stinky glory.

Post resource: Corpse Flower – Amorphophallus titanium blooms around the country by Personal Money Store

The cycle of a corpse flower

A corpse flower is considered very distinctive for several reasons. The flower is very rare, and generally grows in Sumatra. The very pungent scent of the flower is meant to attract not bees and birds but flies and beetles. Attracted by the strong smell of rotting flesh, these creatures pollinate the flowers. In greenhouses and botanical gardens around the country, amorphophallus titanium flowers are kept very carefully. Difficult to pollinate, these flowers usually bring in lots of crowds.

Keeping a corpse flower

Few gardens around the country sell amorphophallus titanium starts. Corpse flowers have to be pollinated with frozen pollen because they’re hard to pollinate. In Berkley, you are able to buy a Titan arum start around $ 35 and $ 50. The flowers are very touchy. For most of the life cycle of the corpse flower, you’ll just have one big leaf. The flower only blooms a couple times and smells awful. If you desperately want one of these liver-colored, huge, stinky plants, you may want to build a closed-off addition to your sun room.

Less stinky, but just as cool

If you are interested in wicked plants like the corpse flower but do not want to risk having to spend a huge amount of money to get the rotting flesh smell out of your clothes, you do have other choices. The wicked plants also go beyond the Venus fly trap. There are bushes that shoot poison spines, trees that leave a rash or even your classic wicked plant which is a hemlock.



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