Lounge Loves: Titan Arum

According to botanists at the sanctuary, the flower blooms only for 24-48 hours, and fills the surrounding area with a foul smell of rotting flesh to attract pollinators. This happens only once in 8-10 years.

In 2008, the plant came to GBS as a small, potato-sized tuber. Since then, it has been nurtured by a small group of gardeners led by Suma Keloth, senior plant conservationist at the sanctuary. The flower had produced only five leaves till the beginning of June, before the inflorescence began.

“We kept it very carefully, in a greenhouse, protected from storms, ensuring it doesn’t rot, repotting exactly at the right time without disturbing the delicate roots which are required to anchor the giant leaf as well as the inflorescence," says Keloth.

Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) is native to the rainforests of Sumatra and its flowering is said to be both rare and unpredictable.

So why get a non-native species to the Western Ghats? “We primarily work on Western Ghat native species and have close to 2,000 species in GBS. However, we also have a small area that is a botanical showcasing of interesting and unusual plants from around the world, for educational purposes. People are enchanted by spectacular, odd or colourful plants, and also relatives of plants they are familiar with. Amorphophallus is a genus with many representatives in the Western Ghats and we have had a very successful and long-standing conservation mission with these. The Titan is a gorgeous relative of these," says Suprabha Seshan, managing trustee, GBS.

In the wild, the plant is found in a small, restricted rainforest area and faces the threat of extinction from deforestation.