BLOOMINGTON – The Amorphophallus titanum is a striking plant even before you get close enough to smell it. Its scientific name means giant, misshapen phallus and it is not hard to see why. A giant column called a spadix rises into the air from the center of a pleated funnel.
When the plant blooms (every decade or so), that spadix actually heats up to about 90 degrees. The stench that inspires its common name — the corpse flower — comes from a putrid blend of chemicals the bloom sends into the air. The odor has notes of old fish, unwashed feet, and rotting cabbage.
Greenhouse staffers call the corpse plant – Wally in honor of Hugh Wallace “Wally” Scales, the first manager of the then Jordan Hall (now Biology Building) greenhouse.
This will be Wally’s third bloom or inflorescence. A. titanum has the largest unbranched inflorescence (cluster of flowers arranged on a single stalk or a branched stalk) in the world, reaching over 10 feet tall. Its inflorescence consists of a spike (spadix) with tiny male and female flowers encircling the spadix base enclosed within a sheath (spathe).
While in bloom, A. titanum produces the odor of rotting flesh – luring flies and carrion-eating beetles for pollination and earning it the corpse plant moniker.
The stunning scarlet interior and furrowed texture of its spathe are thought to aid in the carcass illusion. During the peak of blooming, the tip of the hollow spadix heats up to a maximum temperature of 100 degrees F. to help volatilize the plant’s stinky perfume.
It takes from 8 to 20 years for A. titanum to produce its first bloom. The perennial plant grows from a corm (swollen underground plant stem that serves as a food-storage structure to help plants reproduce and/or survive adverse conditions), producing a single compound leaf that looks like a small tree. The leaf can reach a height of 20 feet and a diameter of 16 feet. Several leaf cycles are required before the plant has stored up enough energy in its corm to produce a bloom.
Wally bloomed for the first time in 2016. Its stunning inflorescence which had grown to a height of 6 feet 3 inches – unfurled on Friday evening, July 29, 2016. Thousands of visitors stood in line for hours that weekend to view (and smell) Wally. The scent was so strong that people reported being able to smell it outside of the greenhouse.
After A. titanum blooms, it goes through one or more leaf cycles before producing another bloom. If conditions are right, a new bloom occurs approximately every 3 years. The bloom lasts only 24 to 36 hours.
Wally produced a second bloom after two leaf cycles, fully opening on December 17, 2020. Unfortunately, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented visitors and all of the fanfare that revolved around Wally’s first bloom.
Leichter expects Wally’s current bloom to open near the end of this month. Follow us on Facebook for updates.
Visitors can find Wally in Room P of the Biology Building greenhouse. Consult the greenhouse website for visitor information—including hours, a map of the greenhouse, and more information about Wally.
Indiana University’s Jordan Hall Greenhouse is open to the public from 7:30 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
Once the titan arum has flowered, a series of time-lapse photos of the plant will be released by IU.
Information: IU Department of Biology.
