Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the Corpse titan arum, is a flowering plant that has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world.
The plant as an odour that is like the smell of a rotting corpse or carcass, the titan arum is, characterised as a carrion flower.
There is a suggestion that in cultivation, the titan arum generally requires seven to ten years of vegetative growth before blooming for the first time.
According to Wikipedia, The titan arum only grows in the wild in the equatorial rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia.
It was scientifically described in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari. The plant flowers infrequently in the wild and even more rarely when cultivated.
It first flowered in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, in 1889, with over 100 cultivated blossoms since then.
Male and female flowers both grow in the same inflorescence. The female flowers open first, then a day or two later the male bulb open.
Accordingly, this usually prevents the flower from self-pollinating.
Apparently, in 2003, the tallest bloom in cultivation was 8 ft 11 in high, this happens at the Botanical Garden of the University of Bonn in Germany.
Accordingly, the event was, acknowledged by Guinness World Records.
However, on 20 October 2005, the 2003 record was broken which occur at the botanical and zoological garden Wilhelma in Stuttgart, Germany.
