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by Sheila Lennon
'Bottom-up' journalism from the pros

May 6, 2002

Great flower photos: In case you missed it, the world's largest flower -- titan arum, a giant lily native to Sumatran rainforests -- reached 2.36 meters (7 3/4 feet) and weighted 165 pounds when it bloomed at London's Kew Gardens May 1, emitting a rotten stench every few hours that can be sniffed nearly a mile away. (In Sumatra, it's its scent is described as similar to that emitted by a rotting elephant.) Its fluted flower is dark red inside, with a giant yellow spadix (which prompted Wired to headline its report, "Is That a Pistil in Your Pocket?"). A page of remarkable images (as usual, click to enlarge) at the flower's Kew page documents the event. On May 4, the spadix collapsed, leading botanists to hope that their attempts to pollinate it had been successsful.

Last June 7, another of the rare lilies bloomed in captivity inside the UW-Madison Botany Greenhouse. Quicktime movies document this one. Last month, botanists were still harvesting fruit from it.
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