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Curious about the Sumatran Corpse Flower? »

This ain’t your ordinary Mother’s Day bouquet

Posted on May 14th, 2007 – 12:02 AM
By Jaime Chismar

I am a bad daughter. I should’ve spent Mother’s Day eating brunch with the woman who changed my diapers. Instead, I was driving 70mph down HWY 169 to see a flower that smelled like one. A Sumatran Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanum bloomed Saturday night in a greenhouse on the Gustavus Adolphus campus. I only had two days to see one of the largest (and stinkiest) flowering plants in the world.

corpseflower.jpg

Though it looks like one giant blossom, the Corpse Flower is actually made up of hundreds of tiny little flowers which are located near the base of phallus. Yes, phallus. I also learned Amorphophallus titanum is Latin for Giant Misshapen Penis. No wonder my mother wanted to stay home. Only a serious plant nerd would drive 63 miles for a phallic flower on Mother’s Day.

I’ll post more photos later this morning.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 12:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to "This ain’t your ordinary Mother’s Day bouquet"

debw says:

May 14th, 2007 at 7:40 am

Since I won’t be making the drive is the fragrance as odoriferous and putrid as reported?
I spent part of Sunday at the Marjorie McNeeley conservatory at Como Zoo smelling the orchids. Some smell like lettuce ( no smell), some smell like Ivory soap (cool!) and some smell like iris flowers (also neat-o). Other people thought I was weird but inquiring noses need to know.

KVP says:

May 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

“Giant Misshapen Penis” - and I thought gardening was boring!! Where have I been?

Jaime Chismar says:

May 15th, 2007 at 11:29 am

Totally, smell can make or break a flower. In this case, the stench is half of the allure of the corpse flower. The plant actually heats up to 100F to mimic the smell of rotting flesh. I thought it smelled liked a full garbage can in August.

debw says:

May 16th, 2007 at 6:02 am

That smell I can relate to! The smell of decomposing meat, not so much in the memory banks for that.
I guess there is a smell attractant for every plant. Some are “August Trash Can” others attract polinators that are looking for something sweeter.

Jaime Chismar says:

May 16th, 2007 at 11:09 am

I just loved the visual of you sniffing all the orchids. Some people may have thought you were crazy, but other were probably jealous of your chutzpa.

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