Entries tagged with ‘Hyperion’
Remembrance of Corpse Flowers Past
This blog post will immortalize, to the extent that the Tubes of the Internet are Immortal, some of the comments left by visitors to Perry the Corpse Flower. Her/his sibling Bob, who flowered at the Marjorie McNeely (aka Como) Conservatory last spring produced similar impressions – those are stored in the memories of thousands of [...]
Gigantic Leaf Garners Gawkers
The leaf of Perry, our largest plant of the Titan Arum / Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) continues to induce rapt attention in humans. A trickle of gawkers streams by, lingering in the hallway like objects slowly shifting in a gurgling brook. (Note: keep in mind that I’m considering submission of an entry in the Bulwer-Lytton [...]
A Titanic Ruby Thursday
Walking toward the greenhouse door this morning down a hallway redolent of dead mice, I suspected that great things were to come. My entry into the greenhouse was greeted by a glorious wave of abominable stench. Inside at the time were Emily (our greenhouse manager), a guest, and Ruby, all three in [...]
Perry the Titan and Cousin Konjac Beckon
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 [...]
Titan Tops Two Meters, Calls for Admirers
Perry, our largest plant of Amorphophallus titanum, continues to grow her/his awe-inspiring leaf at a remarkable rate. The leaf had topped two meters by about 4:30 Sunday afternoon (April 13), up from 191 cm at about the same time on Saturday. The leaf base is now approximately 6.5 inches in diameter at ground [...]
Tiny Titan Trasfixes Thousands
Bob the Tiny Titan opened his/her inflorescence at the Majorie McNeely (aka Como) Conservatory in St. Paul over April 9-10. Thousands visited and were astounded. Many also dipped into the visceral depths of olfactory challenge presented by Bob. I made a trip to Como on Thursday afternoon (April 10), as did Philip (who was [...]
Twin Titans Twofer – Leaf and Inflorescence
Perry’s leaf began to emerge from the shoot yesterday. Stay tuned for rapid development. I’m at a chemistry meeting out of town right now, so personally missed the emergence, but Nick, who has been keeping tabs on the shoot during my absence, took some excellent photos. The leaf should eventually be titanic. Click [...]
Titan Tops One Meter
As of yesterday (March 30) at about 4:00 p.m., the leaf shoot of Perry, our largest Amorphophallus titanum plant, was one meter tall. Today at about 10:00 a.m. the height was 105 cm. Alex and Nick are pictured below with Perry for comparison of last year’s and this year’s growth. Click on [...]
Perry Grows Again!!!
Exactly one month ago (February 6), Emily Hoefs, our greenhouse manager, saw that Perry’s shoot tip, about 1/2 inch high, had emerged. I had noted cracks in the center of the potting mix about a week earlier, and had been hoping that they were from shoot pressure rather than drying of the mix surface. [...]
Perry’s Prolific Siblings at Como
I and two of my students took a pair of Perry’s siblings to the Como Conservatory in St. Paul in the summer of 2004, where they have been growing strongly and in addition proliferating. Margaret Yeakel-Twum and her colleagues recently re-potted the larger of the two plants, and I wrote about that on this [...]