FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE5/29/01
CONTACT: Paul Berry (608) 265-9237, [email protected]
STINKING BEAUTY: RARE FLOWER SET TO BLOOM AT UW-MADISON
MADISON - One of the world's largest and most malodorous flowers is about to bloom at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The titan arum or "corpse flower," noted for a malodorous stench given off by blooms that can have a diameter of as much as four feet, is exceedingly rare among cultivated plants. The nascent bloom at UW-Madison is the first in Wisconsin and may be only the twelfth recorded bloom in the United States.
"It's very exciting. We've babied it for a long time," says Mohammad Fayyaz, director of the UW-Madison Botany Greenhouses and Garden of the College of Letters and Science, where the plant has been in residence for the past seven years. "I'm fascinated by this beast. It's a wonderful gift from the plant kingdom."
Native to the equatorial rain forests of Sumatra in Indonesia, titan arum first blossomed under cultivation in England in 1889. Specimens have flowered several times in captivity since at Kew Gardens in England, the United States and elsewhere, each time causing a sensation and attracting thousands of curious people. The excitement at Kew when the titan flowered a second time was so great that police had to be called to control the crowd.
The plant grows from a tuber that can weigh as much as 170 pounds. When in flower, it gives off a stench that serves to attract pollinators which, in its Sumatran home, are thought to be carrion and dung beetles, and sweat bees.
The corpse flower blossom lasts only a few days before collapsing under its own weight. The "flower" is actually a leafy structure called a spathe.
Within, at the base of a fleshy central column called the spadix, are thousands of tiny male and female flowers. Only when the spathe is completely unfurled are the flowers mature.
Strictly speaking, it isn't a "true" flower at all, but an "inflorescence," or collection of flowers, which emerges at the end of a long dormant period, growing up to 4 inches a day over a period of about three weeks. As the pale yellow spike reaches maturity, the spathe opens out to form a vast, ribbed, frilly-edged trumpet, greenish on the outside but deep maroon within.
The plant, whose scientific name is Amorphophallus titanum, is a member of the same family that includes calla lilies and philodendrons. It may bloom only two or three times during a 40-year life span. In the forests of Sumatra, the single umbrella-type leaf can reach 15 feet across, on top of a 20-foot stem, while the underground tuber from which first the leaf, and later the flower, emerges, can be so heavy that it requires two people to pick it up. Sumatran legend has it that the plant will even eat its grower, hence the local name of "corpse flower."
But one of the plant's most unusual features, in addition to its size, is the extraordinary smell: At the moment when the titan arum's pollen is receptive, the spadix actually heats up from within and gives off a powerfully malodorous stench of rotting fish -- perfect for attracting the carrion beetles and sweat bees that pollinate it.
As of Friday, May 25, the UW-Madison plant was four feet tall and growing at a rate of about four inches a day, says Fayyaz. The flower is expected to open any time within the next week or two.
For basic information about the plant and its natural history, public viewing opportunities and parking information, visit:http://www.news.wisc.edu/titanarum/
To see the corpse flower live on the Web, visit: http://www.wisc.edu/botit/arum/
The Amorphophallus Hot Line is (608) 262-2235.
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-- Terry Devitt (608) 262-8282, [email protected]
RARE, SMELLY PLANT TO BE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC VIEWING
NOTE TO WEB EDITORS: You can link to a Web site that contains basic information about the plant and its natural history. The site also outlines public viewing opportunities and includes parking information, and links to live images of the plant. Visit: http://www.news.wisc.edu/titanarum/
MADISON - The soon-to-blossom titan arum or "corpse flower" will be on public display in Greenhouse No. 8 behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, beginning Wednesday, May 30.
The public may view the plant, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. until it flowers sometime within the next 10 days. Then, viewing hours will be expanded to 10 a.m.-6 p.m., including weekends while the plant is in bloom. The actual blooming period of the plant lasts only a few days.
UW-Madison's Birge Hall is on Bascom Hill, just south of Bascom Hall. The public may enter the building to view the flower only through the front doors of Birge Hall. Greenhouse No. 8 is accessible to people with disabilities.
No public parking is available on Bascom Hill. Nearby public parking includes the Grainger Hall garage outside the gated area (enter on Brooks Street), the lower level of the Lot 46 ramp (enter from Frances Street), Area 6 under Helen C. White Library on North Park Street, Lot 20 ramp on the north side of University Avenue between Charter Street and Randall Avenue, the Fluno Center ramp (enter from Frances Street), University Square (Lot 47) on West Johnson Street and the city's Lake Street ramp.
The Amorphophallus Hot Line is (608) 262-2235.
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