AMORPHOPHALLUS TITANUM

The Titan Arum, from the Araceae Family, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens is flowering and just as I am typing this, the inflorescence has probably reached its peak in flowering and the flesh-rotting smell is unleashed. Unfortunately or fortunately, I am not there to see the army of beetles and flies seeking out the flowers.

The Rafflesia that I posted earlier has the world's largest single flower, but this aroid has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence. The bracts wrapping the inflorescence look like a yummy vegetable and would unfurl itself. A link on the plant is shown below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_arum

RAFFLESIA

This was the flower of the Rafflesia plant (Family: Rafflesiaceae) that a colleague saw in Mount Kota Kinabalu.

I was like wow! Would I ever get to see the real thing someday sometime? It is an amazingly strange yet beautiful plant and this is one plant I would like to see before I die. It is strange because this flowering parasitic plant does not have any stems, leaves or roots.

Instead, it spreads by its haustorium through the Tetrastigma vine, from the Vitaceae Family, and the only visible part of this plant is this flower. Interestingly, the flower apparently smells like rotting meat and hence it has the notorious common name Corpse Flower. In addition, this is the largest flower of any flowering plant that is ever recorded. So if this is not strange and interesting, I wonder what is.

A link on the plant is attached below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia