6/6: Corpse Flower (thx serge)

[Undertoad]

Now the flower is closing back up after what they think is a successful pollenation.

You know, thinking about this flower, it's really a remarkable thing... of course the reason it smells so bad is that it HAS to imitate the smell of a rotting corpse. From the "Facts" text from the site:

<i>The fully open inflorescence emits a repulsive, "rotting-fish-with-burnt-sugar" scent. The odor, strongest at night, is to attract pollinators, which in Titan's Sumatran home are mainly carrion beetles and flesh flies. Most fly- and beetle-pollinated "carrion" flowers are similarly colored and perfumed.</i>

If it didn't smell like death, it wouldn't get pollenated and wouldn't survive.

There was a guy on <i>Fresh Air</i> last week named Michael Pollan who has written a book called <i>The Botany of Desire</i>. The book studies several different plants - apples, potatoes, and marijuana amongst them - to see how they've coped and adapted to what humans want out of them. It was a remarkable half hour of radio. He pointed out that plants will do whatever gets their genes copied, and man's approach has radically altered the history of some plants.

In order for this thing to survive, it had to find some way to intrigue the carrion eaters of Sumatra to investigate it and pollenate it. We're used to the plants that have intrigued bees, not flesh-eating beetles, but the rules are the same.