Devil's Tongue, Titan Arum, Corpse Flower

Family:Araceae (Arum Family)
Genus: Amorphophallus
Species: titanum

Just last month I wrote about sometimes choosing exotic plants as the stars of this column. In the plant world, “exotic” is generally used to describe plants that are not native to a particular area. Amorphophallus titanum is certainly not native to the Pacific Northwest—it grows in Sumatra, where it was discovered in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari. However, the dictionary definition of “exotic” also applies to A. titanum: it is strikingly unusual and downright strange in its effect and appearance. It’s so unusual, in fact, that everyone from CNN to the Associated Press to local news outlets show up when it’s getting ready to bloom. Now the bloom cycle is also carried over the Internet, complete with live video feeds. Telephone hot lines are set up, photo opportunities are arranged, the plant’s temperature is monitored—in one case by JPL, using infrared cameras intended for space exploration. The rising temperature results from a process called thermogenesis, which heats oils in the plant and results in the famously foul odor of A. titanum while it blooms. Thousands of visitors wait in long lines to watch, while botanists and caretakers practice pollination techniques and catalog DNA samples. Over the course of a few days, the “flower”—technically, the inflorescence—unfurls to a majestic height of eight feet or more, spanning up to four feet in width. It’s quite a sight, judging from all the Internet sites available. Do a search on this plant and check out the photos for yourself. I think you’ll find them fascinating. You’ll discover, too, that the most recent bloom was at the University of Washington on May 8. Another is expected soon at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, where the last was in 1999. Even so, the University of Washington blooming was only the 12th in the United States and the 2nd west of the Mississippi since the plant’s introduction to the United States in the 1930's.

Amorphophallus titanum is not uncommon in its native habitat, where it is called bunga bangkai, or corpse flower. It is not called this because it looks like a corpse, or because of its reputed tendency to eat passers-by. (This, by the way, has been dismissed as an unkind rumor.) No, it’s because of the odor of the plant as it approaches and then achieves bloom. Some have said it smells exactly like a dead elephant. Having never encountered a dead elephant, thankfully, I can’t attest to the accuracy of that description. All first-person accounts do affirm, however, that the flower of Amorphophallus titanum does indeed smell just like rotting flesh. This is nature’s way of attracting a pollinator—thought to be a carrion beetle or perhaps a small bee—who is obviously so overcome by the scent as to remain undaunted by the task at hand. The male and female flowers are located at different levels and they mature at different times. The female flower must be pollinated with pollen from another plant. The species’ survival depends on a moving co-conspirator. So the strong scent permeates the air for a long distance to provide incentive and inspiration for that little beetle or bee. Once into the plant, the pollinating agent has a dickens of a time getting out. The struggle isn’t enough to kill but it is enough to make sure that the little creature is covered with pollen. In a day or two after the beetle has wandered into the spadix, or flower cluster, the spadix droops and the beetle hops down and moves on to the next smelly place.

To push the limits of arcane information, the first flowering of A. titanum in cultivation outside of Sumatra occurred at Kew Gardens in 1889. Victorian England, fascinated by the plant world’s exotica, was smitten, and curious citizens turned out by the thousands. However, young ladies were not permitted to view the proceedings. Caretakers removed the plant when they visited, or governesses shielded the eyes of their charges. The first flowering in the United States was at the New York Botanical Gardens in 1937 and the next was in 1939, when A. titanum was named the official flower of the Bronx, to symbolize the largest and fasting growing city borough. A blooming event in 1999 at Huntington Botanical Garden in California attracted 76,000 people, 18 days of television coverage, and, by all accounts, record sales of memorabilia at the garden’s gift shop. Amorphophallus titanum specimens on the verge of bloom are now typically given names like Tilly or Angie and become media stars in their brief but flashy days of glory.

For plantpersons, Amorphophallus titanum is but one example of the botanical world’s amazing diversity and adaptability. It may qualify as exotic, but we in the Northwest can find the same wonder in its cousins. Philodendrons, caladiums, anthuriums, and dieffenbachia, favorite houseplants all, are members of the Araceae family. So too is the calla that many of us treasure in our gardens. And to get a sense of the odoriferous attraction of the giant A. titanum first-hand, we need only step outside in the spring to take a whiff of our own native skunk cabbage—Symplocarpus foetidus, family Araceae. What name do you think they would give that in Sumatra?