Titan Arum

The old "dead Corpse" flower! Would love to go see it, but can't stand crowds and queues.

Stand in line for hours to take picture. Rush to get picture developed. Put in photo album. Forget about photo. I think I have the system down pat now.

Hope everybody went home safely and survived summer heat !

Stinky!

i hope they don't fall off that thing in their zeal and break their hips...sometimes these people are too busy photographing to simply look and admire something...

I may not be the brightest bulb on the shelf...but, why would anyone want to stand in the heat for a really long time to go see a flower that smells of dead bodies. Im sorry but in my job I smell that enough...it makes me sick. I don't really care to smell it on my days off.

If only it had a nicer oder then I'd be willing to see it.

I would only care if the flower started eating Oyaji. Even if it did, they would keeping lining up for a photo.

Looks tasty.

What is so good about looking at a very smelly plant?

It certainly attracted pollinators... look at them all!

I actually went there twice. First time, there were very few people but the flower wasn't open yet. This was before it appeared on the TV news. Went there again on Saturday morning, and though it was crowded, once in, we only had to wait 10 minutes. After leaving, I heard that there was more than a 2-hour wait. Mind you, I arrived 30 minutes before opening time, at 6:30am! I'm just glad the condominium I was staying at was only a 15-minute walk from the garden.

And it's not just the flower. The garden is pretty large, and at 300 yen, was well worth it. There's a lovely Japanese garden inside. Got to see giant tadpoles. After that, took a bus to another garden, Rikugien (this time it was nearly empty, probably because of the heat). A very very hot day, but we enjoyed ourselves.

By the way, it didn't smell. I was told it smelled during the night. The flower never really reached its full potential. I read somewhere that there's one now in Houston which looks like Groucho Marx!

The day of the triffids!!!!!!

ratpack-- LOL I thought I was the only one who thought of that!

Giant plants are kind of scary, but cool.

and the flower then said,"Feed me Seymor!"

@Pukey2 Yep, the one in Houston is on its last leg right now, here are some pics the museum posted. http://www.hmnsmedia.org/CorpseFlower/

pictures of the day get more boring every day.

As Pukey said, the garden is very nice, and usually not very crowded. Beautiful and quiet in the middle of Tokyo (Todai haters, you should know that it's administered by the School of Science :) My students went there Saturday afternoon, but despite the 35 degrees or so, there was a 2 hours queue, mostly old people that saw the news on TV. I'm curious if everybody survived, good that flower is in bloom only for 2 days (I thought it was 17 years though)

"Amorphophallus" = "deformed" phallus or "being in the shape" of a phallus?

Latin experts?

The corpse flower in Houston has a name: LOIS. Because these flowers are rare to bloom, it too is getting alot of media attention and visitors.

I wonder why the Tokyo flower does not have a name?? It is THE Japanese thing to do. Give something non-human a name, and a theme song, and a mascot character, and a slogan. Many times, there is also a special phone number set up so that people can fax their personal 'Ganbatte Greeting' to the thing/animal/sports team/etc. Or nowdays a Twitter account.

Soooo Kawaii!

Yep, thats its official latin name Sioux. Mr. Attenborough renamed it for TV audiences to the less offensive Titan Arum.

we have also an Amorphophallus about ready to bloom in Ibusuki Flowerpark, Kagoshima... the day of the triffids nears...

Could you imagine trying to send a bouqet of these to a loved one (or probably your most despised enemy I guess xD)? Floral Delivery person,"Hello Mr/Ms.Johnson, I have a flower delivery for you."

Mr/Ms.Johnson, "Aww how sweet, I wonder who its from?! Uh...where is that rancid odor coming from?"

Floral Delivery person (wearing gas mask),"Well, I can't say but you'll find the card in one of the flowers...I accidently dropped it inside of the petals."

Actually, those are leaves, not petals... :-)

Giant misshapen phallus.. hmmm. Oki oki i can see it i guess in the center of the bloom yes? I would have suggested maybe Giant misshapen phallus in a skirt. The scent is said by many people to be like that of a rotten corpse and so 'corpse plant' is another popular name.. it is a shame that it must smell that way.. maybe someone can find a way of crossing it with some other blooming plant and make giant 'better-scented' flowers? Maybe cross it with catnip? Then cats could pollinate it ^_^

Tent Pole!

Look at the damned hords yuck, no wonder it hides for so long before flowering what an ordeal!

cool!..but it make you feel small if you stood next to it!

Can you smoke it? :)

It smells like rotting flesh to attract flies, right?

Saw this last evening on TV & wondered as to why this was of such an interest, but then though a maze of people would be pushing in to see, photography & smell it rotting away. Sorry but not of interest to me as it has been to others.

Yep, thats its official latin name Sioux. Mr. Attenborough renamed it for TV audiences to the less offensive Titan Arum.

What I meant was does the prefix mean "deformed" or "in the shape of"?

But I guess either would apply.

@ SiouxChef: when i looked up 'amorpho-' in the Latin dictionary, it read as "misshapen or having a mutated form, being of abnormal shape." i hope that helps answer your question, sir ^_^