Titan arum - Amorphophallus titanum

The giant arum has been cultivated in the Hortus botanicus Leiden for decades. The Amorphophallus titanum only flowers once every five to ten years, whereby the flower can reach a height of 3 meters. The smell that comes off, most closely resembles that of rotting meat. Logical, because this way the flower attracts its natural pollinators: meat flies and carrion beetles. At Hortus botanicus Leiden, our green craftsmen help with pollination. We have been succ several specimens into new showpieces. The plant takes 10 years to flower, with the tuber weighing about 45 kilos. In the wild, this special plant only occurs on Sumatra. The need for heat and high humidity means that this special plant can only survive outside the tropics in large warm greenhouses.