Friday, June 29th, 2007 by Brian O'Brien
I’m hoping that the Perry Mummy will soon be dehydrated enough to take back to the greenhouse. Meanwhile it has done a bit of traveling - not quite as much as King Tut, though. A Perry appearance at a gathering of summer research students and faculty last week added a nice touch to the ambiance. Shown below is Prof. Brandy Russell, bioinorganic chemist and Perry addict, posing with the remains.
Coincidentally, since a number of proto-humans are forming within the group, a Perry infant shirt was also on display (see below).
Pat Wald said
on Jul 13th, 2007
11:18 pm
Enjoyed reading your blogs on Perry. Great pictures of your project.
Pat
Brian said
on Jul 22nd, 2007
2:09 pm
Thanks, Pat. I plan to continue the blog - it should become more active once the leaf begins to grow.
Sonia Nosratinia said
on Aug 7th, 2007
10:16 pm
Hi Brian,
Just visited your website for the first time today. Thank you for all the information. I have a question that was not answered under your FAQ. Would you happen to know if the spathe would close earlier if the female flowers get pollinated? The A. titanum at UC Berkeley’s botanical garden opened last night, the garden staff pollinated it this morning (with pollens collected from another A. titanum a couple of years ago) and the spathe totally closed up by 3:00 pm today! So disappointing for those of us who were told it’ll stay open at least for a couple of days, if not a week! From what you know, can the spathe’s quick closing-up have anything to do with the fact that the garden folks pollinated the female flowers this morning? Thanks.
Brian said
on Aug 8th, 2007
11:22 pm
Sonia, thanks much for your interest. With regard to the spathe closing sooner were pollination to have occurred, it sounds as though some acceleration might have happened with your plant. The spathe on our plant (and on others about which I’ve read) was at its peak for only about 12-18 hours, without pollination. It started opening late Saturday afternoon, and was visibly waning by about noon on Sunday. The overall display lasted in good condition for a couple of days, and was interesting for several more, however.
We didn’t pollinate our plant, due to potential stress on the plant (which is a first-bloomer), but we did collect and store pollen for possible sharing with other growers. It’s excellent to hear that your plant will probably be bearing seeds.
I plan to post some updated items on this blog with regard to our plant soon. We’ve had a great deal of fun with the aftermath of Perry’s flowering, even if my blog postings have been sparse as of late.
A Titanic Ruby Thursday - Linnaeus Arboretum - Gustavus Adolphus College said
on Apr 17th, 2008
9:37 pm
[...] and two younger brothers visited late this afternoon. The timing coincided so as to have Nick and Brandy present, as well. We doubtless had, for a short time, the highest concentration of Amorphophiles [...]