Botanic Gardens’ not so pretty inhabitants

BY EMMA KEMP

The world’s largest and stinkiest flower was in full bloom on the weekend at the Royal Botanic Gardens for an audience of grossed out flora lovers.
The Titan Arum or Carcass Flower blooms once every six years for a mere two days, but makes up for it by literally attacking the senses of anyone who dares to get too close.
 “You have to see it to believe it,” said Dr Tim Entwisle. “The Titan Arum flower looks like a slightly deformed banana sticking out of a pleated purple skirt. It stinks like a dead rat ‘ not the most offensive smelling plant in the world, but close to it.”
To complete this strange and gruesome picture, consider its Latin name: Amorphophallus titanium, which translates as “giant deformed penis”.
The plant mimics the stench of dead animals to attract insect pollinators, particularly sweat bees and carrion beetles.
 “This is an example of the intricate relationships between plants and animals, and the wonder of evolution,” Dr Entwisle said.
 “It’s very exciting to have nurtured such a bizarre rare plant and to have such success.  We’ve been growing it for 15 years, developing new propagation techniques in partnership with the Bogor Botanic Garden in Indonesia.”
The Titan Arum, which can grow up to 10 centimetres a day, lives in the equatorial rainforests of central Sumatera in Indonesia, and has become endangered due to poaching and habitat destruction.
 “One fascinating discovery was that it can be grown successfully from leaf cuttings,” Dr Entwisle said. “It only has one leaf, a giant one, which appears every couple of years. Each year the underground tuber gets bigger until it has enough resources to produce a flower instead of a leaf. The biggest of these tubers can weigh as much as 70 kilograms.”