Amorphophallus bulbifer 2011

Family: Araceae •
Genus: Amorphophallus •
Species: bulbifer (Schott) Blume (1837)•
Country of Origin: India •
Synonyms:Arum bulbiferum Roxb.•
Common Names: Voodoo Lily, Devil's Tongue, Corpse Flower •

A. bulbifer is one of my prized Amorphophallus species. I found this little stinker by its stench this morning! This flower smells like rotting flesh and sulfur to attract its pollinator; flies, beetles and other insects. What you see above is the flower. Like most aroids it is composed of a spathe which usually envelops the spadix a flower spike with a fleshy axis. One interesting thing about most Amorphophallus is that they produce one single leaf, which you can see in my previous post Amorphophallus bulbifer. I know it looks like many leaves but I assure you botanically speaking it is a single leaf. This species has a deep green leaf with pink margins. The leaf will sometimes grows bubils in its axis which it uses for asexual reproduction. This trait was incorporated into its species name bulbifer. It also has an amazing looking stem almost reptilian or alien in appearance. The leaf will die off after some time usually after summer; at which time the plant will go dormant. During this period, which fortunately enough for me coincides with our dry season, I withhold all water to prevent fungal activity. After one or two years of vegetative growth you are rewarded with a beautiful and unusual flower as seen above! A. bulbifer  is easy to grow and I grow this plant in a moist medium consisting of peat moss, vermiculite, and sand; in full morning sunlight (50-75%). I often have bubils and seeds for sale; contact me if you are interested and I will put you on my waiting list.

Sources: Amorphophallus. (2011, April 13). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus 


Amorphophallus bulbifer 2011 by Eric Bronson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.