Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory

A Titan's Growth Chart

Date	Height	Circumference	Comments
6/17/05	24''	13.5''	Top edge of spath is noticeable inside of leaf sheath.
6/18/05	24.5''	14''
6/19/05	26.75''	15.25''
6/20/05	18''	18''
6/21/05	31.25''	18.75''	Titan's growth steadily increases.
6/22/05	33.5''	22''	Titan is put on display in the conservatory.
6/23/05	34.5''	22''	Leaf sheath falls off.
6/24/05	36''	22.75''	Color starts to show on edges of the spath.
6/25/05	37.5''	24''
6/26/05	38.5''	25''
6/27/05	39.25''	25.5''
6/28/05	40''	27''	Colors become more vibrant.
6/29/05	41''	27.5''	The spath begins to open.
6/30/05	41''		Titan is in full bloom and the stench is overpowering! Flowers are pollinated with pollen shipped from The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens of Florida.
7/1/05			Flower starts to close. Spadix looks grainy and begins to turn light brown.
7/2/05			Flower continues to close. A hole is cut in the back of Titan and male pollen is collected.
7/3/05			Spath is turning brown and spadix collapsing.
7/4/05			Spadix is still standing.
7/5/05			Spadix collapses.
7/8/05			Titan is removed from display room.
7/12/05			Female flowers appear to be moldy.
7/13/05			Brown spath is removed.

A Blooming Giant

The massive inflorescence consists of a bell-shaped spathe, up to 3 m in
circumference, with ribbed sides and a frilled edge, around a central
spike-like spadix. On the outside, the enveloping spathe is green
speckled with cream, but its interior is rich crimson. At its base, the
spathe forms a chamber enclosing the flowers which are carried at the
lower end of the greyish-yellow spadix. The inflorescence arises from an
underground corm, a swollen stem modified to store food for the plant.
This corm, more or less spherical in shape and weighing 70 kg or more,
is the largest such structure known in the plant kingdom.

Pollination

The Titan arum is pollinated by large beetles which are lured into the
spathe by the powerful smell of decaying flesh. They climb freely over
the flowers but are unable to negotiate the smooth spathe appendix and
are thus trapped while the sparate phases of female and male flowering
take place. When flowering is over the inflorescence begins to collapse,
enabling the pollen-covered beetles to gain a foothold and escape,
perhaps to a newly opened Titan arum.

A Giant Leaf

After flowering, the inflorescence dies back and in its place a single
leaf emerges. Reaching the size of a small tree, up to 6m tall and 5m
across, the leaf consists of a sturdy glossy green stalk mottled with
cream which divides into three at its apex and bears numerous leaflets.
Sugars made in the leaf are transported back to the corm for storage as
starch. Each year, the leaf withers before a new one develops, using the
corm's energy stores. Eventually, the corm becomes dormant for up to 4
months before another inflorescence emerges, growing upwards at a rate
of some 10 cm per day.