Saturday, May 26, 2007

Amorphophallus peanafolia

This is a close relative of Amorphophallus titanium, the so called Mr Stinky. Fairchild Garden gets the media out when ever the titanium is in bloom. The flower is 5 to 6 feet tall. You can see that flower here. This year I have 3 flowers blooming, each two days apart. Last year they bloomed all on the same day making it impossible to set seed. When the flower opens at dusk it's a female and 24 hours later it's a male. Thus a single flower will not set seed. I am trying to set seed this season. The first flower lost most of the pollen to rain. The second flower had a lot of pollen that was easy to harvest. Now I hope to fertilize the final flower this evening. You can see the the pollen here. The picture at the bottom of the page shows the golden pollen and the white female flowers that are none receptive. When the flower first opens it produces a very unpleasant odor that attract flies. At this point the plant is producing heat (if I put my hand near it I can feel the heat). I don't know any other flower that can produce heat.