Gargantuan Leaf Leaps for the Sun Posted on October 9th, 2011 by

Are You Ready for Some Chlorophyll?!!?  Perry the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) has exceeded all expectations with his/her leaf, and is producing a shimmering wave of deja vu within the greenhouse, as shown in the photo (click the thumbnail image for a full view).  The student scale objects are Tran Tuan (Gustavus ’13) on October 7, 2011, and Nick Murray (Gustavus ’10) on May 7, 2008.

Even after having produced seeds after the last flowering, which one might expect to weaken the plant, Perry has produced a leaf that is even larger than the one that was produced during the last leaf part of the life cycle.  It seems to have topped out at about 31 inches (79 cm) in circumference at the base, whereas it was 28 inches (71 cm) in circumference in 2008.  That’s 24% larger in cross section than the last leaf!

We expect a massive flowering from Perry after the leaf cycle – late spring through summer of 2013 is the most likely period.  Stay tuned…

Click here for the current webcam view of Perry (running continuously since 2007!).

Stop by the greenhouse for a visit with Perry, should you have the opportunity!

‘Perry’ is a nickname; our Titan’s real name is Hyperion, the Titan associated with “…watchfulness and wisdom.”

 

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