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Posted: 26-06-2010 10:36 Post subject:

Phew... what a stinker. Hot weather brings Mediterranean 'rotting flesh' plant to Essex
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:05 PM on 25th June 2010

The hot weather has brought out a plant that smells like rotting flesh in a garden in Rayleigh, Essex.

Neighbours are not the only ones kicking up a stink about the unwelcome visitor, which gardeners Janice and Terry Wallace say just sprouted without warning.
It is commonly known as a dragon arum - or a stink lily - and it's unique and disgusting aroma can be 'enjoyed' up to 40ft away in the houses of the Wallaces and their neighbours.
To make matters worse, the flower is pollinated by flies - therefore the attracting clouds of them.

The Wallaces insist they did not plant the stink lily, it just appeared. Amazingly it has managed to survive the coldest Winter in 30 years and is now fully revelling in the summer heat.

It's scientific name is dracunculus vulgaris, but is known variously as the dragon arum, stink lily, black arum, voodoo lily, snake lily, black dragon, dragonwort and Ragons.
It is native to the Balkan region, extending as far as Greece, Crete and the Aegean Islands.

It is characterised by a large purple leaf and spike and has a very unpleasant smell reminiscent of a carcass.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289600/Phew--stinker-Hot-weather-brings-Mediterranean-rotting-flesh-plant-Essex.html#ixzz0rwyfmF2P

Posted: 26-06-2010 14:05 Post subject:

Where do I get one? It'd overwhelm the folk at the back's barbeques...

Posted: 28-06-2010 18:57 Post subject:

Downtown from me, at the Milwaukee Public Museum, they have 3 Titan Arums in the butterfly exhibit ('wing', if you prefer). I've seen them close up in bloom and they are really fantastic flowers.

If anyone is confused, Amorphophallus Titanum was re-named the Titan Arum by Sir David Attenborough. It seems that he was doing a special for the BBC and thought that referring constantly to "Amorphophallus" would be offensive to viewers.

More here:http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/featured/titan-arum/

Posted: 29-06-2010 00:06 Post subject:

A few years back, one of these bloomed at the Sydney Botanical Gardens.

It was billed as a "must see event" - so I went.

It was more like a "must not smell" event - the stench is horrible - truly unbelievable - I could have gone happily through life without that experience. Rolling Eyes

Posted: 02-06-2011 13:20 Post subject:

Huge smelly plant in bloom at Eden project

A huge smelly plant at Cornwall's Eden Project has thrilled visitors by going into bloom.
Gardeners at the site near St Austell had been waiting for the Titan Arum to flower which they said was a rare event.
The plant, among the biggest plant species in the world, will usually only bloom for about 48 hours before dying.

The Titum Arum, which is has grown to 2.91 metres (9 ft 6 ins) gives off a foul smell to attract insects.
A spokeswoman for the Eden Project said the plant was known as the "corpse flower" because it stinks of rotting flesh.
Plant enthusiasts have been watching the Titan Arum's latest progress on the internet via the project's webcam.
The plant has been growing at a rate of five inches a day and has taken nine years to get to its current height.

The biggest-ever Titan Arum in captivity flowered in New Hampshire, USA, and reached a height of 3.1 metres (10 ft 2 ins).

The Eden Project, which has grown four other Titan Arums, said the latest one had been their tallest and staff had been hoping to top this record.
The plant originates from Sumatra and is a distant relative of the British lily.
It is distinguished by its yellowy, fleshy spike known as a spadix.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-13627270

Posted: 16-05-2013 08:12 Post subject:

Nearly two years since the last post:

Could you stand on the stink step? World’s biggest, smelliest flower set to bloom at Eden
7:00am Thursday 16th May 2013 in News

The Eden project is asking, could you “step up to the stink", as the world’s biggest, smelliest flower is set to bloom.
Visitors will be given the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with the smelly marvel, the Titan arum, thanks to a special “stinky step”.
Brave visitors can climb up to get the full force of the icky inflorescence’s odour. Some people have compared previous flowerings to having a smell akin to rotting flesh, others to bad eggs.

A Titan arum typically grows for between seven and ten years after which it is in full splendour for only 48 hours before starting to die.
It gives off a distinctive, unpleasant smell to attract pollinators during this short time. Some specimens have been known to reach 3m (just under 10ft) in height when they flower.

This rare plant, whose Latin name is Amorphophallus titanum, is the eighth that has bloomed in Eden’s Rainforest Biome. All of them have been grown by the project’s resident Titan expert, Tim Grigg based at Watering Lane Nursery.

Tim said: “It’s very exciting to see this beautiful, rare - not to mention incredibly smelly – flower bloom at Eden. In the past, visitors haven’t been able to get the full force of its odour but with this new ‘stinky step’ they will be able to experience it first-hand. Twisted Evil

“I’m really proud of the Titans I’ve grown and I enjoy sharing them with our visitors. They’re such an interesting plant and it’s important that we highlight how rare they are.”

Titan arums are notoriously difficult to propagate and are incredibly rare in the wild but, in his 14 years at Eden, Tim has become one of the world’s top Titan growers. Besides the ones that have already flowered at Eden, Tim looks after a small ‘forest’ of around 30 smaller specimens which are due to bloom in the next few years.

Once Titans reach their flowering stage, they grow incredibly quickly. The flower that is currently in the Rainforest Biome is currently 183cm high and growing at a rate of around 10cm a day. Last month, it was just a tiny sprout.

In his time working with the plants, Tim has propagated them using a variety of different techniques. In November 2007, he successfully pollinated a flower using a paintbrush attached to a bamboo cane with pollen he acquired from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Many of the young plants he currently looks after at the nursery were grown from this fruit. The Titan currently in the Biome came from a leaf cutting taken from a plant that flowered at Eden in February 2007.

Tim has also been exploring other ways to propagate Titans and will be trying a new technique on the plant that is about to flower. Instead of letting the flower die back, he plans to cut it off at the base once it starts to wilt, hoping it will preserve enough energy to flower up to four times again.

There are no sure things with the Titan, but this one is estimated to bloom this week. Visitors can keep an eye on its progress on a webcam here

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10421354.Could_you_stand_on_the_stink_step__World___s_biggest__smelliest_flower_set_to_bloom_at_Eden/?ref=la

The webcam link on the page doesn't work. I tried finding it on the Eden website, but their link doesn't seem to work either!

Posted: 02-08-2013 00:56 Post subject:

Another one... with pics.