Perry’s Stony Sleep Posted on December 12th, 2013 by

Perry the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) has decided to bypass making seeds this time, and has gone dormant. The dead but still-standing inflorescence had toppled as of Monday this week, and today Nate and I pulled out and mounted the new Perry mummy to dry.  We suspended it on a ring stand for the still-wet bottom to drain and desiccate. Treatment later with antimicrobial spray and acrylic spray should make the mummification semi-permanent (as was done with the mummy of Perry I). See descriptions on the individual photos for further details.

Stay tuned for Perry’s reawakening. The extraordinarily fast growth of the massive leaf is a spectacular thing to see. We tentatively predict that to occur at some point in the spring or early summer (but Perry has surprised us before…).

 

DSCN9405 Nate pulls up Perry's inflorescence

Nate Friedley (Gustavus ’15) pulls out Perry’s inflorescence, which had finally died down to the point where it could be detached from the corm.

DSCF0008 Nate with Perry's extracted inflorescence

Nate Friedley (Gustavus ’15) with Perry’s newly-extracted mummy (aka dead inflorescence).

DSCF0011 Brian and Nate with Perry's extracted and mounted mummy (aka dead inflorescence)

Brian O’Brien and Nate Friedley (Gustavus ’15) with Perry’s extracted and mounted inflorescence. The Perry mummy is suspended on a ring stand to drain and dry prior to treatment for preservation.

 

 

 

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