Amorphophallus titanum flowering, 1901
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The Titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum is known as the corpse flower in its native Indonesia because of the rancid smell, described by Curtis's Botanical magazine as a mixture of rotten fish and burnt sugar, which it emits as it flowers. It caused a sensation when it first bloomed at Kew in June 1889; the odour attracted "many bluebottle flies" and visitors were greatly disturbed by the smell. The artist Matilda Smith, who recorded the first flowering endured many hours painting it and consequently felt ill. The inflorescence can grow to more than 2.5m and is surrounded by a single purple leaf. These photographs were taken over a four-day period during a later blooming in 1901
Copyright © RBG KEW
Media ID 10645190
Date: 12th February 2015
Copyright Status: Copyrighted Work
Owner URL: http://www.kew.org/
Credit: Copyright RBG Kew
Filename: p102 - 103 006838LA20120727-107 Titan Arum.jpg
Image Size: 6545 x 3851 Pixels
Filesize is 4.85MB
Associated Categories: History
Associated Categories: Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Associated Categories: History
Keywords: 1901, amorphophallus titanum, black and white, blooming, botanic garden, botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, corpse, days, flower, history, inflorescence, june, kew, mono, monochrome, opening, rbg kew, rotten, sequence, smell, stink, titan arum