The Perry Train has long since left the station, and is now barreling along at full speed. Perry’s inflorescence continues to grow at a rate of centimeters per day, and an organization has been created to coordinate activities. Once the “It’s opening!” button is pushed, the well-oiled machine that is the Perry Lollapalooza Plan (my linguisitc coinage, so please blame no one else) will be implemented. Volunteers are being acquired for crowd management and explanations of Perry’s biology, and other educational endeavors are planned (I’ll post more on those later).
I’ve included a couple of photos that show the rapid development of the inflorescence. For those of you who are following the webcams, two signs of imminent opening of the inflorescence will be (1) falling away of the two cataphylls (leafy structures) at the base of the inflorescence, and (2) development of reddish-purple pigment in the uppermost parts of the spathe.
Click here to see a stop-motion video of Perry’s growth over July 1-9.
We’re in the process of producing a set of informational videos. Click here for the first one, in which I explain what a Corpse Flower is. Let’s try to get this up to 20,000,000 or so views, please. :)
The train-like momentum that’s steadily built up over the last couple of weeks inspired the title of this post. For performances of the actual song “The Orange Blossom Special,” click here. I think that this could well become the Perry theme song, with appropriate modifications…
Click here for the lyrics of The Orange Blossom Special. For our purposes, substitute ‘Perry’ for ‘Orange’. :)
do you have a Facebook page on Perry?
Yes. You can see the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/perrytitan
There is one blooming at the Cockrell butterfly center in Houston. They have a live webcam and have opened the museum 24hrs while it is blooming.http://www.hmnsmedia.org/CorpseFlower/