A Tiny Titanic Forest! Posted on June 21st, 2011 by Brian O'Brien

The Children of the Corm (aka the progeny of Perry the Corpse Flower) continue to appear.  Their numbers grow steadily, as one after another after another after another of Perry’s self-generated seeds germinate.  Can total domination of humanity by our new Vegetable Titan Overlords be far behind?  Only time will tell.  Meanwhile, the germinations continue… one… then another… then another… or two…

I was kidding about the domination scenario (probably…) – but this is truly an unusual situation (and utterly cool!).  It is rare for an Amorphophallus titanum to be inadvertently self-pollinated, and the seeds from such events are not expected to be fertile (based on experiences with other cultivated plants of Amorphophallus titanum).  Not so for Perry.  As of now, the germination rate is about 30%…and counting.  After they’re grown on to a somewhat larger size, we will be able to donate these seedlings to other institutions that have facilities to grow these plants, thus contributing to conservation of this spectacular organism.

I strongly recommend that anyone who has read this far into this blog post read The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham, for further insight into the potentialities of Vegetable Dominance (not to mention Cold War metaphors).  One could also watch the movie, but I recommend reading the book first.