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Amorphophallus titanum (Titan Lily) - The titan lily, or corpse flowers as it is also known, grows from a large tuber which can reach 170 pounds or more. It produces a single, huge umbrella-like compound leaf that can reach over 12 feet high in greenhouse cultivation and is known to reach 20 feet tall and 15 feet across in the wild. This leaf can live for about a year. The tuber then enters a short dormant period before producing another leaf or flower. When it flowers, a huge inflorescence forms, bearing the typical aroid arrangement of a spathe subtending a the spadix which bears tiny male and female flowers. In the case of the Corpse Flower, the fleshy maroon-colored spathe is up to 3 feet across with frilly edges with the central spadix up to 6 feet tall. The spathe unfurls about 3 weeks after the bud tip first appears. The flower typically stays open for two days. When the flower is fully open, it emits a repulsive scent which is strongest at night to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles, flies and sweat bees.
This plant was discovered by the Italian botanist and explorer Dr. Odoardo Beccari in 1878 in the rainforests of central Sumatra in western Indonesia. The name of the genus comes from the Ancient Greek words 'amorphos' meaning "without form" or "misshapen" and phallos meaning "phallus" or "penis" in reference to the spadix and the specific epithet means "titan" or "giant" in reference to the massive size of the plant). The common name corpse flower is translated from the Indonesian name bunga bangkai with the same meaning. Another common name for this plant is Titan Arum.
The first specimen of this plant in cultivation flowered at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England in 1889. In 1999 the Huntington flowered their Amorphophallus titanum and it made national news as it was the first-ever flowering of this rare plant in California, and only the 11th recorded bloom in the United States. It may take 15 years or more for this plant to mature from seed and bloom and thereafter flowering generally occurs on alternate leaves with other years it produces an amazingly large single leaf, so it is rare to see a blooming plant except in botanical collections. A plant flowered at the University of California Santa Barbara Biology Greenhouse in August 2002. This plant, named "Tiny" was hand pollinated by Greenhouse Manager Barron Rugge using pollen from the Huntington Garden's plant. When the seed matured Baron shared some of the seed with us and we had a crop that we sold to our California customers in 2004 but have not had any plants to sell since.
A sister seedling to our plants, that has since been named Chanel, started blooming at UCSB in July 2013 - information and images of this plant can be found on their website at UCSB Amorphophallus titanum. Plants have also flowered regularly at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory and at the Huntington Botanic Gardens.
The information displayed on this page about Amorphophallus titanum is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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