Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Amorphophallus Update June 24

The bud is 37 inches (94 cm) tall today, or two inches taller than yesterday.

The speckled green sprout behind and to the left of the flower bud is our other mature specimen of Amorphophallus titanum. That plant is behaving normally, sending up a foliage leaf to photosynthesize, after flowering last year. Corpse flowers only produce one leaf at a time, at least as adults: the speckled "trunk" is really a petiole (leaf stalk), bearing a leaf blade dissected into numerous leaflets. The whole thing will collapse into mush when the plant next goes dormant; the only part of the plant that persists long term is the underground corm.

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