An Amorphophallus titanum, bearing the largest flower in the world, is about to bloom within the next few hours at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The museum has set up a live webcam to keep up with its progress online. Hope to be able to make it there to see for myself. Enjoy without the smell at the address below!
http://www.hmnsmedia.org/CorpseFlower/
NOTE: THE PICTURE ATTACHED IS NOT THE HOUSTON BLOOM. IT'S FOR REFERENCE ONLY.
This message was edited Jul 10, 2010 9:57 AM
She's a beauty Houston! My Konjac stunk up my house this past spring!
The HMNS is now reporting that the bloom should begin opening Sunday and be in full bloom Monday. I was hoping for a weekend bloom so that I'd have a better chance to see ( and smell :p ) it in person.
Since 1937 there have been only 28 Corpse Flower flowerings that the public had been able to witness. The same plant rarely blooms twice. Don't miss the opportunity of seeing #29!
The picture attached is only for reference. It's not the actual bloom in Houston but I'm sure it will be just as beautiful when Lois (as it has been named by the HMNS) opens.
I NEED one of those....i can see it now...LOL!! it could cover my entire front yard..no mowing....would that be great!
Thanks for the info. I just informed friends in Houston.
Interesting they still call it the "world's largest flower" when it isn't a flower. It is just a large ornate leaf surrounding a group of tiny flowers on the spadix. Still a wonder to see.
Steve
Hate to disappoint you, tobee. The bloom only lasts for two days. Keep on mowing! :D
This is true, ER. The actual flowers are nothing spectacular. But calling it the world's largest flower sure draws paying customers to support the museums and gardens that have one blooming. :)
but steve
...really now...after it blooms and drops it i could use the excuse it's mulching the front...don't you think.
that is one of the most outstanding blooms i have ever seen and i have seen at bit!!
thanks for sharing this one!
Haha, you guys are crazy :)
I would love to have one of these puppies! I heard it's hard to get CONSIDERING a lot of times you're being sold non-viable seeds and mismarked tubers
oh me too!!!
i could trade.....let's see.....an ae ae pup....NOT...a rare chartreuse un-named as yet musa cultivator.......NOT......
or
one used HUSBAND...still good for digging holes and paying for my expensive habits...!!!! MAYBE....if you can prove it's the "right" plant! he's good for the trade. (he's right here!) LOL!!!
I have one that is now four years old but still has at least three more to go before a possible inflorescence. I know a guy that has several to sell that are just a year younger than mine. I'm certain all my neighbors will try to have me evicted if it ever produces an inflorescence!
Steve
steve we have relatives in leslie ar....you think they'll be able to see it when it goes into full bloom....
perk...really for sale...what for a million or two??
Steve, does he sell them on the web?
He is a friend who has grown aroids for many years. I don't know the current price but when I bought mine from him it was quite reasonable. If you want one drop me a Dmail and I'll ask.
As for mine producing an inflorescence, when that happens I'll gladly make an announcement but I've got a feeling I'll be forced to move it to the botanical garden in Fayetteville, AR near the university. That is at least three years away and could be longer. Missouri Botanical Garden has a bunch of big ones and none have ever produced an inflorescence. I was told in April when I was last in the greenhouse the garden director wants one to bloom BADLY!
Steve
Lois (as the plant has been named) has taken her sweet time in opening but today or tomorrow will possibly be the day. The spathe has begun pulling away away from the spadix last night. When the webcam displays her really opening I'll be there ASAP. Will post pictures when I return.
I have been trading email almost daily with Nancy Greig at the museum (sometimes four times a day). She told me last night the plant should open today. Please get some photos of it!
Steve
Hi, ER Steve! I've become familiar with Nancy's name since all this has started. Have you been checking the webcam? I've been on constant watch! I don't think that the bloom will open today but it looks real promising for tonight. The top of the spathe has pulled away from the spadix. After almost 2 weeks of prognostications about when it would open I'm getting excited about it again. Borrowing anything unforeseen I'll definitely get pictures. I'm sure the line will be long once it blooms but I'm patient. A couple hours in line will be nothing. I've waited 45 years to see one in person since learning about A. titanum since I was about 11 years old. Now, if I could get hold of one and have it bloom for me before I'm gone I'd really be a happy camper!
Steve
It will be worth the wait! Nancy sent a note a few hours ago saying she is fairly certain it will open during the night. As you stated, the top of the spadix is now out and she just said she can now begin to smell "whiffs" of the pheromone.
Wish I could be down there with you guys! And yes, I'm checking the monitor from time to time.
If they will let you get close enough try to get photos down inside the bottom of the spathe near the base of the spadix. The female flowers should be open there tomorrow but they will be very small. In a zone just above those will be the sterile male flowers that produce the smelly pheromone. On the next day, possibly the day after, the male flowers will open on the spadix and begin to shed pollen.
Also, do your best to meet Nancy and tell her thanks for all the info. She is a member of the International Aroid Society and we are working on a meeting of our MidAmerica Chapter to be held at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden in the fall. Nancy said earlier she plans to attend and I hope some of you will come as well.
Steve
If the bloom progresses much further tonight I may have to take the day off from work tomorrow and get to the museum at about 2AM this morning. They're staying open 24 hours a day during this. I'll keep watching until later tonight and make the decision then.
If I get the chance to meet Nancy or Zak maybe I can get one of them to snap a picture of the opening that was cut at the base of the spathe a few day ago to check the bloom's health. Maybe the flowers will begin to open by then. It would be a great shot of what's going on inside. I know that the female and male flowers bloom on subsequent days. I doubt I'll be able to be there for both openings.
I will make an extra effort to meet Nancy and say hi for you. Hey, it might even get me a few perks for being a special visitor. :D
Just took a look at progress on the webcam. Looking good. That pot the plant is in is about the same size as mine. I thought I'd have to upsize my pot drastically and have to use a crane if it needed to be moved around.
Lois made a little more progress in opening overnight. For the HMNS keeping the optimum temperature at 80F during the day has been no problem but at night but the temp at night drops below 80. It is their belief that this is the reason the bloom progresses more slowly at night. I feel confident that it will fully open by this evening. I WILL be there this evening. Heading there as soon as I get off of work today.
tropicbreeze, I read that lois' corm alone weighs 35 pounds. That probably comes close to almost filling the pot itself!
Stevesivek, that's what I was thinking, not much room left for even doing a foot tapping routine. 35 pounds is about 15.9 kilograms. I'll see what mine is when it goes dormant, although that doesn't look like happening any time soon. In about a week it'll have been growing for 12 months. I'll probably end up using a larger pot later, just so that there's enough soil around the tuber to be a good buffer. The photos I've seen of the ones in Germany show huge pots, more like huge troughs.
Thanks Steve. I've been watching it quite a bit today. This info just came from Nancy Greig at the site, Their server was so jammed with viewers this morning it took 20 minutes for me to finally be able to see it!
"Hurray! Glad you can finally see it. The inside of the spathe is
incredibly dark, almost black. We have had lots of complaints that the
backdrop should be changed from black to something lighter, and we are
working on that (to gray).
It doesn't smell yet!!! Well, we get whiffs once in a while, but the
real "funk" has not set in yet. This plant has been totally weird.
I do hope that the pheromone sets in soon - we have lots of people
waiting on it!"
She is oh so right! This is one weird plant. My guess is tonight the sterile male flowers will finally release all those pheromones but we shall see.
By the way, Amorphophallus titanum and all aroids that grow from an underground starch storage unit grow from a tuber rather than a corm according to all the top aroid botanists. Those tubers are simply underground stems. There is a bit of dispute on a very few species but that is now pretty well accepted. Nancy tells me she is making the change in their material.
Steve
I just logged back on and the background is now gray. Much better since you can easily see how well the spathe has now opened. Looks like it has a way to go yet.
Steve
Everything about S-Lois has been slow and it's a bit of a conundrum of what I should do. Do I go tonight and possibly not see it fully open or do I go Saturday morning and hope it's still fully open? Friday is a no-go for me as I have to work and then that evening we're going out to celebrate my birthday with friends & family until late that night. Guess I could go once the party is over but after a few brews I get mighty sleepy. :)
A scientist friend and I have been trading mail with Nancy today and the best guess is you should go tonight. The spathe was barely open early this morning and has now turned down well on the right side but Nancy says it is not fully open on the left (from the camera angle). I believe it will pull away about one additional foot at which time the restriction around the spadix should begin to relax. Look at the monitor and you will see it is now very tightly closed around the spadix.
If this thing follows Nature's lead the sterile male flowers which are just inside the base of of the open spathe will soon begin to emit their pheromones, likely after dark. The stink-o-meter should then begin to climb. At the same time the female flowers deeper in the female floral chamber will become receptive. If this one goes according to Nature's plan the male flowers should begin to produce pollen sometime tomorrow, likely in the evening. With luck you will see pollen on Saturday and then the inflorescence will collapse.
The sterile male flowers have the job of attracting the dung beetle that pollinates this plant in the wild. Since these insects eat carrion they are attracted to the plant's "perfume". They can likely smell it up to 200 yards away in the rain forest.
This is a unisexual (single sex) species which means the flowers are all imperfect. An imperfect flower has only a single sex while a perfect flower is has both female and male parts. Perfect female flowers become receptive before the male flowers produce pollen and the same is done by imperfect flowers.
Imperfect as well as perfect flowers are explained in the article below. The inflorescence of an Amorphophallus is basically the same as that of a Philodendron so if you are curious look at the photos on this page:
http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Natural%20and%20artificial%20pollination%20in%20aroids.html
You will see the location of the female floral chamber as well as the position of the female flowers, the sterile male flowers and the male flowers that produce the pollen.
The original work was done by my friend Julius Boos and I have added additional information as it becomes available for a variety of scientists. Be sure and read the explanation of how aroids are pollinated as well as take a good look at Marc Gibbernau's chart. Marc is one of the top pollination experts in the world. As I posted on the aroid page, Julius died about 10 days ago and will be very missed.
If you read it all you will understand much better what you are seeing.
Steve
This message was edited Jul 24, 2010 8:45 AM
This is Amorphophallus konjac which has the same flower arrangement. The male flowers can grow and produce pollen on the exposed region but the female and sterile male flowers are found inside the female floral chamber.
Steve
If you look at the left side of the spathe on the Houston Amorphophallus titanum you will see that side is finally unfolding. Nancy was concerned earlier today about it being slower to open than the other side. My suspicion is it will drop even further to become more symmetrical during the night.
If you look closely at the restriction at the top of the female floral chamber it also appears to be loosening which i interpret as an indication the female flowers are about ready to invite the pollinating beetle inside. Since none are present we won't get to see that but in nature a species of dung beetle literally claws their way up the side of the spathe in order to reach the spadix. From there they claw up the spadix and if it is producing pollen then gather it as a source of food. In most cases the beetles are there in mated pairs. and most will fall into the female floral chamber to mate.
The inside of the chamber is very warm due to thermogenesis and the beetles will mate inside during the night while eating the sterile male flowers as a source of protein. Hopefully, at least in nature, most have already visited another inflorescence and have brought along pollen in order to pollinate the female flowers. Due to thermogenesis the temperature in female floral chamber as well as on the spadix can climb but 20 degrees (F), sometimes more depending on the aroid species. This literally creates a cozy "beetle motel" in which the insects comfortably spend the night in the often cool night time forest.
Tomorrow they would then begin to climb the spadix again to gain and gather pollen as a source of food (lipid protein) and then travel to the next inflorescence that is nearing the time to need the pollen.
Mother Nature is very, very slick in the way all of this was designed.
Steve
Thanks for the great explanation, Steve. I've been educated in its pollination & seed production but never could have explained it so well. Hopefully, others will read what you said and get a good education about Amorphophallus. I had konjac but lost it when I ended up in the hospital for 2 months after a bad wreck a few years ago on a Christmas eve and it got left out in the cold. Ended up rotting in the pot. Made me sick! :( I did acquire a bulbifer early this spring and it's really liking its new home. Got a couple of baby corms off of it so far this summer.
Was watching the news at around 6:30 this evening when they had a live shot of the bloom from ground level and directly in front. I had wondered if the angle of the webcam was deceiving and making it look like the left side was not opening. Sure enough, the news camera captured both sides equally open. I came down sick this evening after seeing that and will not be able to go to work tomorrow. ;) Actually, I burned a vacation day for tomorrow and will be there in the morning.
Steve S
Stay well. I know about loosing plants to health and unforseen events.
Strange if the camera is causing that effect. From this angle the left still appears higher but I've been watching it off and on since 9:00AM and it has certainly dropped a bunch. Nancy experessed concern about it being not even as well. She just sent a note about 30 minutes ago she would be waving a sign at me but I missed the sign! I did see her there in her red T-shirt!
To an aroid nut this is great fun so keep us informed what you see from the site!
Steve
Well, the news camera may have been deceiving, too. I scrolled back through the webcam video and captured this for you. Webcam isn't clear enough to read it but Nancy is holding a sign and waving to you. You can't see her in the thumbnail but open and she'll be on the right side.
Steve S
Thanks for that! I must have missed her by seconds.
She just wrote to confirm the left is higher than the right but is slowly dropping. The pheromone intensity is coming in slow waves but has not increased substantially. She is staying late tonight and I assume that is to hopefully to be there when the big "whiff" comes. If nature does her trick that should not be long since in nature the big attractant would come after dark in time to attract as many beetles as possible. I am uncertain of the beetle species and also if it flies or just crawls. I do know they have to claw their way up the spadix which is very slippery.
If you get there in the morning let us know what is really going on and pass along my best to Nancy.
Steve Lucas
You're welcome. From what I've heard and read it's from the family of Silphidae beetles, aka carrion beetles. No idea which one as there are many in this species. If Nancy is staying late I wonder if she will be there in the morning. Though I can't imagine her wanting to miss a moment of this. Guess I better get to bed soon so that I can get up early.
L8R,
Steve S
She has a radio interview at 5:00AM and my understanding is she will right back to the museum. As of 4:30AM the left side continues to drop but so does the right. I suspect the plant will become more or less symmetrical during the day.
The stink-o-meter is up to 7 and climbing. The pheromones should come in waves as the therogenic temp of the plant rises and falls, all normal.
Amazingly, every time I've checked tonight there have been people there with camera flashes going off.
From all the email I've received from Nancy I don't think you could drag her away. She is excited and deservedly so. Not many of us get to observe the entire process from start to finish.
Let us know once you meet Nancy and Lois! If your camera is infrared capable get a photo. The color changes from top to bottom will be amazing. I suspect the apex (top) of the spadix is now well over 100 degrees.
Steve
This message was edited Jul 23, 2010 3:47 AM
WOW! Did you stay up all night watching??? As of 7:30 she's much more symmetrical and really stinking. Stink-o-meter is up to between 8 and 9 now. I see Zac is wearing a mask unless he's talking to someone. :D I will be getting away at 9:00 to head there. Couldn't get everyone else who wants to go together before that. After the wait in line that should put us seeing Lois around noon. I feel that may be a good optimum time to see the bloom. Should have warmed enough by then for her opening to pick up a little speed. I should have enough questions to keep Nancy occupied for a little while hoping they keep my stay in there a little longer than the rest of the crowd. :) Any particular questions you want asked while I'm there?
I saw Zach appear to be checking the thermogenic heat this morning and would like to know if that was in fact what he was doing. The exposed spadix should be very warm right now and the temp will rise and fall as the waves of pheromone ("perfume") are released. For those not familiar with the terms I use, when an aroid reaches anthesis (sexual maturity) there is a reaction of Salicylic acid (same chemical in aspirin) inside the spadix that causes a significant heat rise. In some plants it can go close to 50 degrees F above the ambient (surrounding) temperature.
I would also like to know if the restriction at the top of the spathe is open enough to see the sterile male flowers inside. Nancy said it was very dark inside the female floral chamber.
No, not up all night but I was up every two hours or so. I just have a very curious brain and it won't flip off easily when I'm into trying to understand something.
I explained infrared photography to Nancy briefly but it would be great if an infrared photo could be produced with a human body near the plant. Since the skin temp of a human is known that would give us an estimate of the temp on the various parts of the spadix and lower spathe.
If it were possible to produce a chart like this one that would help science to understand this species better.
Steve
Post what you saw as soon as possible Steve. I've been looking at this thing since 4:00AM!
Steve
Here's a link to "Perry", flowering now at Gustavus Adolphus College.
http://gustavus.edu/biology/titanarum/?cam=1
Much better image, but takes longer to down load.
Nice inflorescence and certainly a better image!
Steve
