Titan Arum

The titan arum is a giant flowering plant native to the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, famous for producing one of the largest unbranched flowering structures of any plant in the world, an inflorescence that can rise well over two metres tall. It is equally notorious for the powerful smell of rotting flesh that the flower releases for the roughly day or two that it is fully open, an odor that, combined with a dark red interior and heat generated by the flower itself, mimics a carcass to attract carrion beetles and flesh flies that serve as its pollinators. Between flowering events, which can be many years apart and are unpredictable, the plant produces a single enormous leaf that can itself tower several metres high on a mottled stalk, storing energy in a massive underground corm that can weigh well over fifty kilograms. Because flowering is so rare and dramatic, a blooming titan arum at a botanical garden often draws large public crowds and media attention, and the species is considered vulnerable in the wild due to deforestation across its limited native range.