University of Wisconsin Corpse Flower

Titan arum, commonly known as the corpse flower, is a large rare flower named for the stink of rotting flesh that is emitted as it blooms. The blooming cycle can span anywhere from several years to several decades with the bloom lasting only a few hours.    The University of Wisconsin - River Falls has been housing a corpse flower since a seed was donated in 2001, and has seen it bloom multiple times, inviting visitors and the public to come watch.. and smell.. the rancid, rare flower. The Titan Arum or Amorphophallus titanum is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The plant is also known as the carrion flower or the corpse flower because the flower’s fragrance is similar to the odor of rotting meat.   The Titan Arum was discovered by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari, in Sumatra in 1878. It grows wild only in the tropical forests of Sumatra. The Titan Arum first flowered in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew in London in 1889. Since then, over 100 cultivated flowers have blossomed. Titan Arum flowering was first documented in the United States at the New York Botanical Gardens in 1937.   The Titan Arum grows from a tuber which can eventually weigh over 200 pounds.  The plant produces a single leaf that can reach twenty feet tall and fifteen feet across with a petiole as thick as a person's thigh.  The single leaf will grow for about twelve to eighteen months and look almost tree-like.  The leaf will then die back and the tuber will rest for about six months, followed by another single leaf. After a number of years of vegetative growth, the tuber will send up a single inflorescence with both male and female flowers. The inflorescence develops over about three to four weeks and when fully developed can reach ten feet tall by three to four feet wide.  The spadix (fleshy central column) has thousands of flowers hidden in its base.  The outer spathe, which looks like a frilly upturned skirt has a maroon interior and green exterior.  The large inflorescence usually opens abruptly (within hours) and remains open for only a day or a day and a half.    When fully open, the inflorescence produces a "rotting-fish-burnt-sugar" scent.  The odor is strongest at night and attracts carrion beetles and flies which serve as pollinators.  Additionally, the tip of the spadix warms up to approximately the temperature of the human body.  This heating is thought to assist in dispersing the scent.   After three to five days the spadix collapses.  The spathe falls off and the fruit mature if there has been successful pollination.  The poisonous ripe fruit are bright orange-red, about the size of cherries and are attractive to birds.  Birds eat the fruit and disperse the seeds.