The Incredible Hulk of the plant world has returned, once again, to seek a mate. It’s been just over two years since our Amorphophallus titanum ‘Homo Erectus’ gifted us with a giant inflorescence, so we’re thrilled to welcome another flowering event. Below is a photo of our plant on July 3, so, based on past experience, this one should open on August 4, or within a two day window either side of that date. If you aren’t familiar with the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), it has the largest unbranched inflorescence of any plant in the world. Not only is the size yuuuge, but the floral fragrance is equally memorable.
To put the importance of the event in context, there have been just over 925 of these plants ever flowered in cultivation. Sixteen US states have never had an Amorphophallus titanum to flower. The first cultivated plant to flower was in March 1889 in the Calcutta Botanic Garden, followed three months later by one in England’s Kew Gardens. I wish I could tell you we remember that well, but alas, such is not the case. Inflorescence #100 occurred in 2004 at California’s UC Davis. The more widespread the plants became, the more the pace of flowering picked up. While it took 115 years to get to flower #100, it only took, 4 years to go from 100 to 200, when Smith College in Massachusetts had one flower in August 2008. Based on our records, only 100 clones have ever flowered twice, so repeat flowering on the same clone, put you in ever rarer air. You can find a complete flowering history of every plant to flower on the JLBG website.
Due to habitat disturbance in their native Indonesia, these are now quite endangered in the wild. As part of our ex-situ plant conservation mission, Plant Delights Nursery began making these rare plants available. So far, we have made over 1,700 of these available to botanic gardens and collectors, worldwide.
We’ll be keeping you posted here on the progress of the flowering, but if you’ve never seen one in person, you may want to schedule your vacation around this special event. So far, the spike is only 5″ tall, but from here on, it’s like watching Jack-in-the Beanstalk grow.
Amorphophallus titanum ‘Homo Erectus’ would make a nice addition to Loree Bohl’s Portland, Oregon “Danger Garden”, known for its collection of spiky, thorny, and unusual plants. But I’m not sure the warning, “Careful, you could poke an eye out” applies here. http://www.thedangergarden.com/