Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Gurdur · 05-24-2003, 02:30 PM

Here's something to thrill the hearts of Linda and godfry n. glad !

Today (Saturday 24 May, 2003) I drove out with a friend to see the largest flower in the world.

My friend alerted me that in Bonn (80 Km away from where I live) a Titan Arum Lily was blooming; a none too negligable event, since it last bloomed in 2000, plus it had attained a world-record for the world's largest bloom, and also the world's largest bulb.

Quote:

You can find some information in English on it here, plus web-cam and pix.

The Titan Arum flowered the last time at Bonn in July 2000. The flower with the shape of a fountain has had a diameter of 1,5 m and reached almost 2,60 m in height. It was the third largest flower of the Titan Arum in cultivation ever. .....
Last year it produced a giant leaf of 4 m, that withered in autumn. At the end of January the tuber was repotted and reached the spectacular weight of 78 kg.....On the 7th of May 2003 it reached the height of 78 cm and had a circumference of 58 cm. The final height on the 22nd of May was 274 cm!
The world record of a titan arum flower was held untill now at the Botanic Garden of Wageningen in the Netherlands, where it flowered in 1932 � some 70 years ago. The height of that flower was 2,67 m and we are excited to see that this years flower will produce a new world record. The Titan Arum is one of the most spectecular plants at all. The plant naturally growns in the rainforests of West Sumatra [Indonesia]. There were about 70 flowers in cultivation so far.

I've slightly cleaned up spelling and whatnot in the original citation

The actual flower I visited ---- not my pic, but instead the official pic

Gurdur · 05-24-2003, 02:36 PM

Another official pic of the bloom, apparently photgraphed May 23, 2003

Gurdur · 05-24-2003, 05:13 PM

A BBC News report on the flower

And an interesting BBC report on Kew Garden's own Titan Arums

echidna · 05-25-2003, 08:12 PM

I might have even seen a smaller variant of the Titan in Sarawak on Borneo, but it was only around a third of the height of this one. It�s worth mentioning the reek of their fragrance which they use to attract bugs for reproduction. They�re probably not ideal for buttonholes.

But at the time I missed out on seeing the Raffelesia, which is also rated as being �the world�s largest flower�, Titan by height, Raffelesia by width I believe, more than a metre across for the few days it lasts.

Corgan Sow · 05-25-2003, 08:17 PM

Does anyone notice it looks like a big, freaking,erect weener?

seebs · 05-25-2003, 08:21 PM

I think, rather, than mammal sexual organs look like flower bits.

Doubting Didymus · 05-25-2003, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by echidna
It�s worth mentioning the reek of their fragrance which they use to attract bugs for reproduction.

Bugs? Thats a relief. When I first saw the monster at the top of this thread, I said to myself "I hope for your sake, Gurdur, that that bugger isn't fertilised by flies". Fly-pollinated flowers stink, and that thing might just have violated international arms treaties.

echidna · 05-25-2003, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Corgan Sow
Does anyone notice it looks like a big, freaking,erect weener?

Yes, if I�m not mistaken it wasn�t lost on the classifying botanist either. In fact �amorphophallus titanium�, is actually Latin for �big, freaking, erect weener�.

emphryio · 05-25-2003, 09:47 PM

The metamorphises from flower to single leaf is interesting.

godfry n. glad · 05-27-2003, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Doubting Didymus
Bugs? Thats a relief. When I first saw the monster at the top of this thread, I said to myself "I hope for your sake, Gurdur, that that bugger isn't fertilised by flies". Fly-pollinated flowers stink, and that thing might just have violated international arms treaties.

Yeah... Me, too. I saw that thing and thought, "Heisenberg! That thing looks just like a Voodoo Lily on steroids! Man, I hope that thing's not proportionally as smelly as the Voodoo Lily or we're talking WMD here." But....Obviously not. After all...Look at the innocent child in the picture. He's not retching.

The Voodoo Lily looks rather like this specimen, but much smaller and the center cone is almost black; a sooty black. It's something that would, in terms of visual aesthetics, be attractive to the goth crowd...blood red and sooty black. The scent is similar to a decomposing body. My neighbors and I spent two days looking for the animal that we thought had died in our bushes....only to find out that is was a Voodoo Lily. It's a mechanism to attract flies for pollenation. Charming, eh?

Kewl plant blossom, huh?

Didja hear about the single fungus that underlies most of the state of Minnesota?

godfry

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05-24-2003, 02:36 PM	#2
Gurdur Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Buggered if I know Posts: 12,410	Another official pic of the bloom, apparently photgraphed May 23, 2003

05-24-2003, 05:13 PM	#3
Gurdur Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Buggered if I know Posts: 12,410	A BBC News report on the flower And an interesting BBC report on Kew Garden's own Titan Arums

05-25-2003, 08:12 PM	#4
echidna Veteran Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,832	I might have even seen a smaller variant of the Titan in Sarawak on Borneo, but it was only around a third of the height of this one. It�s worth mentioning the reek of their fragrance which they use to attract bugs for reproduction. They�re probably not ideal for buttonholes. But at the time I missed out on seeing the Raffelesia, which is also rated as being �the world�s largest flower�, Titan by height, Raffelesia by width I believe, more than a metre across for the few days it lasts.

05-25-2003, 08:17 PM	#5
Corgan Sow Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 1,537	Does anyone notice it looks like a big, freaking,erect weener?

05-25-2003, 08:21 PM	#6
seebs Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: Saint Paul, MN Posts: 24,524	I think, rather, than mammal sexual organs look like flower bits.

05-25-2003, 09:47 PM	#9
emphryio Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: WV Posts: 4,369	The metamorphises from flower to single leaf is interesting.

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