The Stinky Facts

• The titan arum was discovered in central Sumatra in 1878 by the Italian
  botanist and explorer Dr. Odoardo Beccari.
• The first specimen flowered in cultivation at Royal Botanic Gardens,
  Kew, England in 1889.
• The titan's botanical name, Amorphophallus titanum, means large
  shapeless phallus.
• A mature underground corm (tuber) produces a huge aroid bloom
  (inflorescence), which can be taller than a man.
• Pollination is believed to be performed by large carrion beetles lured
  by the powerful odor of decaying flesh. This overpowering stench is
  released in waves when the flowers are ready for pollination.
• The repulsive, blood red flower can bloom several times in its
  forty-year lifespan. Re-blooming is rare in captivity.
• The inflorescence arises from a corm, a swollen stem modified to store
  food for the plant. This corm, more or less spherical in shape and
  weighing 20 pounds or more, is the largest such structure known in the
  plant kingdom.
• The titan arum is technically not a flower but an inflorescence, which
  is a structure containing thousands of small male and female flowers.
• The Titan arum is described as the most powerful and disgusting odor produced by any plant, (Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, 1955).
• Observers have noticed the odor comes in waves and in close quarters it acts as a floral tear gas, making the eyes burn and water. The chemical responsible is believed to be butyric aldehyde.
• In 1891, an artist named Miss Smith had the unenviable task of remaining close to the inflorescence in order to draw it. The stench made her suffer "prolonged martyrdom that terminated in illness".