Corpse Flower Produces Pungent Bloom on Campus

News

Corpse Flower Produces Pungent Bloom on Campus

The titan arum or corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum bloomed recently in Widener's Kirkbride Hall. The flower is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the entire plant kingdom and this was the plant's first bloom after being nurtured for over 18 years by Stephen Madigosky, professor of environmental science and biology.

Madigosky was gifted the plant as a corm, a small, bulb-like plant stem the size of a fingernail, from the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Florida nearly 20 years ago and has raised the plant into what it is today.

"I flew with the tiny corm in my pocket from Florida back to Pennsylvania," Madigosky recalled, first raising it at his home and then bringing it to live in his lab on campus.

The corpse flower gets its nickname from its pungent bloom - technically an inflorescence, or grouping of smaller flowers in one giant display - which mimics the scent of rotting flesh in order to attract select insects for pollination - particularly flies and beetles which are drawn to foul-smelling odors.

Corpse flower with floral stalk (left) and partial vegetative stalk (right)

Native to the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, blooms of the flower are a rare occurrence and only last for a short while. Blooms of a mature plant can grow upwards of 12 feet high, and corms can weigh over 200 pounds.

"It smelled pretty bad," said biology major Saige Anderson '27. "I would describe it as old cheese and trash."

This particular plant experienced a unique growth cycle ahead of the first bloom which Madigosky described as "highly unusual" for the species.

"The plant is known to produce either a vegetative stalk or a floral stalk," he explained. "These plants should not produce a vegetative stalk and a floral stalk at the same time, but this one did."

The vegetative stalk collapsed, and the flower bloomed in all of its purple, nauseating glory. While the strange growth cycle may have ultimately stunted the full growth potential of the flower, it certainly did not stunt the smell it produced.

Madigosky isn't the only person on campus who works with foul-smelling flora.

Kate Goodrich, chair and professor of biology, has centered her research around floral mimicry in plants. Goodrich's recent research has focused on similarly unpleasant smelling plants such as the skunk cabbage (a relative of A. titanium) and paw paw.

"These plants attract pollinator insects that are not normally pollinators," Goodrich explained. "Insects go to the plant expecting to find something decomposing. While there poking around the flower looking for it they get pollen on them before moving on - hopefully to another deceptive plant nearby."

University staff and students check out the bloom and collect data samples

Anderson worked alongside Goodrich conducting research to understand why flies are attracted to certain smells such as the one emitted by the corpse flower. Ultimately, the goal is to learn more about flies and their pivotal role as pollinators.

While Anderson and Goodrich's research project did not focus on the corpse flower, the bloom gave them an opportunity to examine the plant alongside Madigosky and others, and take samples of the temperature and scent chemistry to help further scientific research into these pungent plant species.

Before the bloom of the corpse flower died, Madigosky harvested pollen from the plant for preservation and further research. It is now stored in a -80°C deep freezer in Kirkbride Hall, and Madigosky has been in touch with botanical societies across the nation to arrange for pollen and information sharing.

Madigosky takes pollen samples from the plant