I was watching a video about the corpse flower, and I learned something new. This surprised me because I’m not unfamiliar with this stinking flower. I knew that it smelled like rotting animals to attract beetles and flesh flies, and I knew that it took years to bloom the first time, and after that, it may be two to five years before it blooms again.
However, I never thought about how big it is, and when I saw a picture of it, I was shocked. That is one big flower. It’s scientific name is amorphophallus titanum which comes from Ancient Greek. It translates as:
- amorphos – without form, misshapen
- phallos – phallus
- titan – giant
So this plant is a giant misshapen phallus. Graphic, but oddly accurate. The corpse flower can grow to be ten feet tall.
Holy smokes!
I’ve never seen one in person, but over 160 public gardens around the country have corpse flowers, so I just need to figure out when one is blooming. Sounds like a fun trip.
