Rare giant plant finally blossoms at Taman Mini

JAKARTA (JP): The amorphallus titanum, a member of the rafflesia family of giant plants, has bloomed at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta.

The rare flower bloomed four days later than expected and is the largest ever recorded in Indonesia. The plant is also known as the "corpse flower" (bunga bangkai) because it emits a foul odor.

Made Sri Prana, manager of the Taman Mini Aviary and Director of the Resource and Development Center for Biotechnology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said he planted the flower in an area behind the bird park on Feb. 7.

He said a heavy rain shower was probably the reason the plant flowered several days late.

Two other attempts to grow the plant at Taman Mini failed due to pests and disease.

The flower, expected to bloom for seven days, sprouted from a tuber weighing 29.9 kilograms obtained from a garden in Bengkulu province.

The flower began to blossom at 5.20 p.m. on Friday and reached its apex at 3 a.m. yesterday, with a height of 217 centimeters and diameter of 119 centimeters.

These measurements broke the national record for a cadaver flower. The previous record was 180 centimeters in height for a plant at the Bogor Botanical Gardens in 1994. The stem of the cream-colored flower in Taman Mini continued to grow after blossoming.

The stench of the plant was apparent several days before it bloomed, Made said. (bay)