Titan Arum Blooms in Washington, DC

The big news in Washington, DC just before Thanksgiving was the blooming of the (in)famous Amorphophallus titanum, a.k.a. "titan arum", a.k.a. "corpse flower". Guess why it got that last name (hint: the flowers are thought to be pollinated by carrion beetles). The plant in question belongs to the Smithsonian Institution and was grown in the Smithsonian's research greenhouses but was moved to the U.S. Botanic Garden on the National Mall so the public could view it. This was a highly anticipated event and got quite a bit of local press, and even received some national coverage. The fact that these bloom so rarely, and the whole thing is only open for 2 days, added to the excitement. Here's a sign announcing it at the entrance to the USBG:



Dan's niece, Erin, was visiting that weekend and I had missed the one that bloomed in 2003 so of course I had to drag them to see it. Fortunately it was a beautiful day because we had to wait in line for an hour:


To our surprise, when we finally got to the door, there was a security guard directing everybody to have cell phones, cameras, laptops, backpacks, and pretty much everything else X-rayed before we could go in through the metal detector:


There was another line inside, but fortunately there were some interesting plants to look at on the way, like this Ensete species (a banana relative) that was kind enough to pose with Dan and Erin:


There were also some interesting cycads, of which I took some closeups of their sex organs:




We finally came upon the titan arum itself, which we could smell before we rounded the corner to see it. It wasn't a horrible, stop-you-in-your-tracks odor, more of a vaguely unpleasant funkiness. The flowering structure was slightly less than 5 feet tall. Frankly, Dan and Erin were a little underwhelmed after how much I had hyped it. Note all the people taking photos with their cell phones:



And a reaction shot with Erin:



On the way out we walked around the conservatory, enjoying a little bit of the tropics one last time before winter finally hits. Here I am with Dan in the main conservatory:



For more information from the Smithsonian Institution about the Titan Arum, including a series of photos showing the plant as it grew and finally opened: http://persoon.si.edu/titan

Guest blogging by Isabella (with photos by John and Dan)

Okay, so a little about me. My name is Isabella and I live with my two daddies in the city of Washington, DC. We usually live a happy and uneventful life and we all get along very well, except for rare occasions like the time I had a nose infection and they had to give me nose drops twice a day for a week. We won't dwell on that.

But... every once in a while things go terribly, terribly wrong. Two or three times a year they take me in the car and we drive someplace far, far away. I never know when this is going to happen and they never tell me about it, and never tell me how long we're going to be gone.

So last week (and as usual, with no warning) they put me in my carrier, loaded me in the car and drove and drove and drove and drove without telling me where we were going. I was not happy. Thank goodness they let me out and let me settle into a lap and try to relax a bit. I tried to drive, but they kept taking my paws off the steering wheel. Is it any wonder I was a bit cranky during the trip?



After an 8 1/2 hour drive we arrived at our destination, who knows where. Someplace cold with a lot of snow. Might as well have been Buffalo. Oh wait, it WAS Buffalo. But I suppose it was nice of them to bring my red blankie.



That definitely improved my mood a bit.



Does this blanket make me look fat???



They weren't so sure about letting me out at first.



But what a view! I'm a city kitty and I've never seen so much open space or so much snow in my life!



Here's one of the farms we could see from the back deck:



And there are birds! Dozens and dozens of birds, and right outside the back door they set up a bird feeder full of birdseed just for me! Won't you let me out, pleeeeease???



They did let me out, and I was able to run around in the snow until I got cold. The birds all flew away, but it was fun anyway. I came back in 10 minutes later. Then 10 minutes later I wanted to go back out again. Then I came back in. Then I went out again. It was so much fun! And they kept letting me in and out! Suckers. The only time I didn't want to go out was when it went down to 15 degrees on Thanksgiving day. Hellooo? Didn't anybody tell these people it's not supposed to get cold until January! I didn't really want to leave but four days later, they grabbed me and stuffed me in the carrier again. I decided to sulk in the back of the car.



Sulking does get tiring after a while.



I think we took every back road through upstate New York. And on the trip back home, snow, snow, and more snow.



Well, you get the picture.



I have to admit the view from the car was very pretty so I spent a lot of time looking out the windows.



And 8 hours later we were home again. Thank goodness!