[Kabar-indonesia] Crowds in U.S. make trek to sniff stinky Indonesian 'corpse flower'

[Joyo at aol.com]

Associated Press 
August 3, 2006
    
Crowds make trek to sniff stinky 'corpse flower'

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP): Crowds are making the trek to Virginia Tech in 
hopes of smelling the blossom of a large Indonesian plant and its "corpse 
flower," which emits a stench to attract decaying flesh-eating beetles, flies and 
sweat bees for pollination.

The plant, whose botanical name is Amorphophallus titanum, and its unusual 
odor is attracting visitors from miles around to the school's greenhouse to 
check on its progress.

"Everyone is very interested and excited to experience seeing and smelling 
the corpse flower," said Curator Debbie Wiley-Vawter adding, that while the 
plant smells bad, there is still beauty behind the beast of an odor. "The textures 
and colors of all its parts are very vibrant and unique."

The plant is expected to bloom any day now, and once it blooms, the smell 
lingers for about eight hours. And after the bloom, it will take several more 
years before it has enough energy to bloom again.

To create the odor, extreme amounts of energy are exerted for the plant to 
heat up the sulfur-based compound in the flower stalk, which can be 7 to 12 feet 
(2.1 to 3.6 meters) tall and 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) in diameter.

Virginia Tech claims to have the only two blooming corpse plants in Virginia. 
The seedlings were donated to the school after James Symon of Sumatra 
collected and donated seeds to the International Aroid Society in 1993.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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