Althouse: Corpse flower alert!

September 15, 2010

Corpse flower alert!

Here at the University of Wisconsin.

I was there for the great 2005 blooming. Blogged day and night.

17 comments:

Angst said...: The Botanic Garden (on the DC Mall) also has a Corpse Flower.

The last time it bloomed, it actually freshened the air -

- since it is right across the street from Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer's offices.; 9/15/10, 12:38 PM
Triangle Man said...: That's not the flower you smell, it's the stench of academic socialist ideology rotting the fabric of society.; 9/15/10, 12:43 PM
chickelit said...: from the link: A Titan Arum plant - known colloquially as the 'corpse flower'

Titus turdus migratorius bloomed last night.

Anybody else catch the drift?; 9/15/10, 12:43 PM
lemondog said...: Little Shop of Horrors

FEED ME!!!; 9/15/10, 1:12 PM
Methadras said...: Nothing beats the rarest of blooms of the Silver Sword on Haleakala in Maui. I was privileged to have seen the bloom that occurs only once in it's 50 - 100 year lifespan and then summarily dies afterward and only grows on that extinct volcano. It's a very interesting thing; 9/15/10, 1:29 PM
traditionalguy said...: Don't tell AlGore or he will claim the warming CO2 poisoned air did this...and immature children from age 6 to age 60 will believe him.; 9/15/10, 1:40 PM
MadisonMan said...: Interesting to read the Meade comments in those posts from 2005.; 9/15/10, 1:46 PM
Patrick said...: A corpse flower bloomed up here in MN a couple months ago, and we took our 3 kids (3, 6 & 8) to see it. They didn't really understand why we would drive for 90 mins each way to see a smelly flower. Their only upside: I promised I'd never make them sit in a car for 90 mins to see a stinky flower. Never said anything about 5 hours, though...; 9/15/10, 2:04 PM
chickelit said...: MM wrote: Interesting to read the Meade comments in those posts from 2005.

What's telling how she seems mildly annoyed and then ignores him.; 9/15/10, 2:19 PM
Tibore said...: "Corpse flower alert!"

I'm tellin ya, there's a Shyamalan movie hidden somewhere in that concept.

------

Word verification: olost. Shakespearian lament for M. Night's career: O, how far hath he fallen, olost is he...".; 9/15/10, 2:57 PM
KCFleming said...: Corpse flour makes cookies that taste like hell.

Squirrel Nut Zippers: Hell
"This is a place where eternally
Fire is applied to the body
Teeth are extruded and bones are ground
And baked into cakes which are passed around"

VW: stubfart
LOL; 9/15/10, 4:05 PM
Triangle Man said...: Teeth are extruded and bones are ground

I realize that the actual lyric says "extruded", but shouldn't the teeth be extracted?; 9/15/10, 4:35 PM
KCFleming said...: I blame public education.; 9/15/10, 4:47 PM
AST said...: It must feel right at home there.

We plant a lot of corpses here, but none of them has even germinated, let alone bloomed.; 9/15/10, 6:17 PM
Meade said...: MadisonMan, El Pollo:

Ha ha ha! Read her preceding post to get the context of my old wisecrack.; 9/15/10, 10:55 PM
Tindara Orchid Supplies said...: We have an 8,000 sq. ft. high tech greenhouse operation solely dedicated to the production of the a.titanum. We hold the United States record (2009) and the world record (2010) for flowering the largest a.titanum, over 9 feet and over 10 feet, respectively. We have flowered 76 a.titanums in the past four years. We have about 500 tubers in various stages of growth right now. The weight of the tubers range from 1 pound to over 350 pounds. We believe we hold the world record for the largest/heaviest tuber. They are pretty easy to grow. The four basic secrets are: heat, around 85 degrees during the day, no lower than 65 degrees at night; high humidity with the soil damp at all times; moderate filtered light; and grow in the largest pot you can buy. Some of our pots are 5 feet wide. We use regular potting soil. Lightly fertilize. They are insect and disease free. They also love to grow in extra coarse vermiculite. All our seeds come from our plants that we hand pollinate. Pollen is frozen until the next a.titanum flowers. All tubers, seeds and seedling production is done in the United States (New Hampshire). We do not import any plant material. Our regards, Frank at Tindara Orchid Supplies. www.tindaraorchids.com; 9/22/10, 7:42 PM
Tindara Orchid Supplies said...: We have an 8,000 sq. ft. high tech greenhouse operation solely dedicated to the production of the a.titanum. We hold the United States record (2009) and the world record (2010) for flowering the largest a.titanum, over 9 feet and over 10 feet, respectively. We have flowered 76 a.titanums in the past four years. We have about 500 tubers in various stages of growth right now. The weight of the tubers range from 1 pound to over 350 pounds. We believe we hold the world record for the largest/heaviest tuber. They are pretty easy to grow. The four basic secrets are: heat, around 85 degrees during the day, no lower than 65 degrees at night; high humidity with the soil damp at all times; moderate filtered light; and grow in the largest pot you can buy. Some of our pots are 5 feet wide. We use regular potting soil. Lightly fertilize. They are insect and disease free. They also love to grow in extra coarse vermiculite. All our seeds come from our plants that we hand pollinate. Pollen is frozen until the next a.titanum flowers. All tubers, seeds and seedling production is done in the United States (New Hampshire). We do not import any plant material. Our regards, Frank at Tindara Orchid Supplies. www.tindaraorchids.com; 9/22/10, 7:43 PM