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Titan arum - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Antaeus, Apollo, Atlas, Briareus, Cyclops, Goliath, Helios, Herculean, Hercules, Hyperion, Phoebus, Polyphemus, Ra, Samson, Savitar, Shamash, Sol, Superman, Surya, Tarzan, Bully |
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The Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) or "Corpse plant," in Indonesia "bunga bangkai," has the largest inflorescence in the world (but not the largest single flower--that distinction belongs to Rafflesia). It is taller than a man. Like its cousins the arum and the calla, it consists of a fragrant spadix of flowers wrapped by a spathe, which looks like the flower's single petal. The "fragrance" of the inflorescence resembles rotting meat, attracting carrion-eating beetles that pollinate it.
Both male and female flowers grow in the same inflorescence.
The female flowers open first, then a day or two following, the male flowers open. This prevents the flower from self-pollinating.
After the flower dies back, a single leaf, which reaches the size of a small tree, grows from the underground corm. The leaf grows on a green stalk that branches into three sections at the top, each containing many leaflets. The leaf structure can reach up to 6 meters tall and 5 meters across. Each year, the old leaf dies and a new one grows in its place. When the corm has stored enough energy, it becomes dormant for as many as 4 months and the process repeats.
First discovered in Sumatra in 1878, the plant flowers only infrequently in the wild and even more rarely when cultivated. It first flowered in cultivation at the Kew Gardens in London. In recent years the number of plants cultivated has increased, and it is not uncommon for there to be 5 or more flowering events in gardens around the world in a single year.
Flowering events since May 2003
| Date | Location
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| May 22, 2003 | Botanic Garden, Bonn, Germany
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| June 9, 2003 | UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, University of California, Davis
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| June 10, 2003 | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London (Kew's fourth since April 2002)
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| July 2, 2003 | Le Conservatoire Botanique, Brest
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| July 23, 2003 | United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC,
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| night August 4 or morning August 5, 2004 | University of Wisconsin, Madison (the university's third since 2001)
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| August 13, 2004 | UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, University of California, Davis
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| September 2, 2004 | Cambridge University Botanic Garden, University of Cambridge
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| 7 October, 2004 | Royal Botanical Gardens (http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/sydney_gardens_domain/visitor_information/events_and_activities/Titan_Arum), Sydney, Australia
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External links
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