Amorphophallus Titanum

15.11.2024

Amorphophallus Titanum

Why in the news?                        

People in Geelong city have beelined to witness an unusual event: the blooming of the Amorphophallus Titanum (called Titan Arum in short).

About Amorphophallus Titanum:

• Amorphophallus Titanum (called Titan Arum in short) blooms once in a decade and is one of the largest in the world — growing over 10 ft in height.
• It is also called Corpse Flower.
• It was first described by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1878.

Features of the Amorphophallus Titanum:

• It blooms approximately once every decade, with each flowering lasting merely 24 to 48 hours.
• It mimics the stench of rotting flesh to attract its pollinators — carnivorous bees and flies that feed on corpses.
• The dark, red interior of the spathe that is exposed when it is fully open looks like the surface of a piece of uncooked meat, and the spadix in the center even warms up to provide the perfect simulation of a warm, abandoned body.
• It looks peculiar, with a tall, crooked, pale yellowish phallic structure — the ‘spadix’ — rising from the center of what looks like an upturned meat skirt — its dark red, thick, waxy ‘spathe’, which is the spiral, petal-like structure that holds within it the inflorescence.
• Habitat: It blossoms on limestone hills in the rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia, where it is called bunga bangkai (bunga means flower and bangkai means corpse).

Conservation status

• IUCN: Endangered

                                                             Source: Down to earth

With reference to Amorphophallus Titanum, consider the following statements:

1. It is a flower which blooms once in a decade.

2. It mimics the stench of rotting flesh to attract its pollinators.

3. It is endemic to the rainforests of Western Ghats of India.

How many of the above statements are correct?

A)Only one

B)Only two

C)All three

D)None

Answer B