Charmingly titled, one of the world’s smelliest plants, the Titan arum grows in the rainforests of Sumatra, but is endangered due to deforestation and land degradation. Nicknamed the corpse flower, the Titan arum’s unpredictable and rare blooms growing in botanical gardens across the world, attract thousands of visitors hoping to experience the rare sight – and partake in its characteristic stench of rotten flesh. The odour of which, is produced especially to attract pollinators that feed and breed on flesh.
Titan arum’s flowers inflorescence consists of an inner flower spike, known as a spadix. The spadix is surrounded by a large petal-like collar called a spathe which is creamy green on the outside and deep burgundy on the inside, with a deeply grooved texture. The flowers are at the base of the spadix and both male and female flowers grow in the same inflorescence. Pollinated female flowers produce bright red and orange spherical fruits. After flowering, the inflorescence dies back and a single, tree-like leaf emerges. The leaf stalk is speckled and has three branches at the top, each with numerous large leaflets. A large underground tuber stores provides the energy for the massive inflorescence to grow.
Located on the outskirts of Brussels in Belgium, the Meise Botanic Garden is celebrating the flowering of an enormous Titan arum, the tuber of which weighed in at a whopping 112 kilos. Officially measured at 322,5 cm this corpse flower is now the world’s largest recorded flowering titan arum.
The Meise Botanic Garden (Jardin botanique de Meise) is located in the grounds of the 12th century Bouchout Castle, just north of Brussels. It is one of the world’s largest botanical gardens, with an extensive collection of living plants and a herbarium consisting of approximately 4 million specimens. The current garden was established in 1958 after moving from central Brussels; the former site is now the Botanical Garden of Brussels. The Meise Botanic Garden contains about 18,000 plant species, reportedly covering 6% of all the world’s known plant species in greenhouses and outdoors. Since 2014, the Flemish government has managed the Botanic Garden as the Agency Botanic Garden Meise.
The first titan arum bloomed in the Meise Botanic Garden in 2008, attracting more than 8,000 visitors in just a few days. Since then, eighteen titan arums have flowered at the botanic garden.
For those keen to admire the giant arum in bloom, it’s located in the Botanic Garden’s Citrus Orangery of the Green Ark. To accommodate visitors, the Botanic Garden has exceptional opening hours until 9pm on the 13th and 14th of August.