Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 by Brian O'Brien
Perry, our largest plant of Amorphophallus titanum, has now exceeded our 2.4 meter measuring stick in height. We’ll probably move a ladder into the room soon so as to be able to use a tape measure for gathering data points. The petiole of the leaf shoot has developed a slight, but obvious sinusoidal component. It will be interesting to see if this changes further. We’re also beginning to measure the growth of various parts of the leaf, because it appears that the top part might now be growing faster than the petiole.
A relative of Perry (who will be classified as a cousin for our purposes) is now blooming. This dark and smelly cousin is Amorphophallus konjac. Cousin Konjac’s inflorescence has now been opening for several days, and her/his spadix has enlarged greatly just during the past couple of days. It will be well worthwhile to stop by the greenhouse during the next few days for a look and a sniff. It appears that this inflorescence will last much longer than Perry’s (which was at its peak for only about 12 hours).
Click on the thumbnails below for photos of Nick with Perry and Cousin Konjac today. In addition, we have trained the webcam on Cousin Konjac for the duration of his/her flowering. Perry will again be the star afterward.
