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.

Media ID 10645190

Date: 12th February 2015

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 4.63MB

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