Entries tagged with ‘aroids’Page 4

A Perry Potpourri

Michael & Company Visit Perry Earlier this summer I received a bolt-from-the-blue e-mail from my former student/student-researcher Dan Eppley. Dan graduated in 1989 and is now a professor in the Religion Department at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania (this illustrates the great versatility of a Chemistry degree from Gustavus…). Dan and his family and some […]

What Did Perry Smell Like? Installment #2

For those readers who might initially have thought otherwise, this post deals with Perry, our largest plant of the Titan Arum / Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum), not with a human of that name. Quite a while back (May 22, 2007), I posted a preliminary transcript of written comments by people who were exiting the Perry […]

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 a state of […]

Perry the Titan and Cousin Konjac Beckon

[Update, August 2,2010 (rather late…sorry) – Cousin Konjac has long since been renamed Ruby.] 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 […]

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 level. That’s […]

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 also […]

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 here to […]

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 the thumbnail photo […]

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. They […]