'Carcass' flower unlikely to bloom<\/p>\n
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor<\/p>\n
At the Cibodas Botanical Park in Bogor officials are doubtful
\nthat the carcass flower Amorphophallus titanum, which was
\nexpected to bloom in the next few days, will produce a flower.
\nThe carcass flower usually blooms triennially.<\/p>\n
Head of the park, Holif Immanudin, said visitors had hurled
\nstones at the flower, which had reached a height of 2.85 meters,
\nbruising its solitary spadix.<\/p>\n
\"We deplore the fact that this vandalism occurred despite our
\nefforts to protect the flower by building a fence around it. Now
\nwe can only sit back and see whether the flower will bloom,\" he
\nsaid on Monday.<\/p>\n
Holif said that the vandals had also hampered the plans of
\nresearchers who had hoped to study the flower's pollination
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
Endemic to Sumatra island, Amorphophallus titanum, which means
\nthe god Titan's scepter, has the largest inflorescence among the
\nAraceae family. The flower can reach a height of six meters and a
\ndiameter of three meters.<\/p>\n
Also known as Titan Arum, the plant is locally known as Bunga
\nBangkai (carcass flower) due to its smell, which has been
\ncompared to that of a rotting carcass. The smell is more intense
\nduring the blooming process, which takes less than one day.<\/p>\n
There are about 170 species of Amorphophallus growing in
\nlocations from Africa to Australia. In Indonesia, according to
\nHolif, there are 32 species: 13 in Sumatra, eight in Java, nine
\nin Kalimantan, and one each on the Sulawesi and Irian islands.<\/p>\n
The flower usually grow on hills with adequate water and
\nsunlight. However, the flowers can also thrive in soil with a
\nhigh calcium deposit, 600 metres to 900 meters above sea level.<\/p>\n
Cibodas Botanical Park has 86 carcass flowers from eight
\ndifferent genus besides the Amorphophallus species, such as
\nAnthurium, Caladium, Homalomena, Rhapidophora,
\nSchismatoglottis, Zantedeschia, and Spathiphyllum.<\/p>\n
However, only two of the park's specimens have so far
\nflowered.<\/p>\n
Recently, one of ten Amorphophallus titanum in the Bogor
\nBotanical Gardens bloomed. It's spadix reached a height of 1.9
\nmeters, while the diameter of the magenta spathe was about 80
\ncentimeters.<\/p>\n
After several hours in bloom on Feb. 29, the spadix shriveled,
\nthe spathe curved downward, and the stench of the flower faded.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/carcass-flower-unlikely-to-bloom-1447893297",
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