才晓得世界上有如此BT的花——就在Virginia Tech的温室。昨天Roommate兴高采烈地告诉我她和labmates去学校温室看了一个叫尸体树的东西，晚上就要开花。还没等我想好词汇嘲笑他们的小资，她已经开始兴奋的介绍起背景知识：1937年这种植物首次在美国开花至今，只有大约20株开花；在开花的前八个小时会有无法忍受的恶臭；是世界上最大的花，通常比一个人都高…… 再看完她拍摄的还未开花的Phil（VT这只花的名字 -_-|||）的照片后，我终于承认，世界之大无奇不有，连一朵花都能开的如此BT。
本来打算当晚去闻闻传说中的恶臭，后来还是畏缩了。今天中午去看，果然名不虚传——房间里的臭味依稀可辨，粗大的黄色花蕊(?)比我还高，红色花瓣(?)已经完全张开——奇异的形状彻头彻尾地挑战着我二十几年来对花的认知。参观者对着Phil啧啧有声，很多是从外地赶来的好事者，就连New Channel 10都在凑热闹——晚上看看电视，有没有我的身影出现。 ^^
Although a blooming Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum, is rarely seen, Virginia Tech's first bloomed last year, drawing crowds who braved the odor and the football traffic to see it. The smelly plant is rare because it puts forth one blossom every four to 10 years. This year, the second plant, located in Virginia Tech's greenhouse complex, should bloom ahead of football traffic, making it easier for the public to visit the greenhouse. The first of these plants in the United States bloomed in 1937 at the New York Botanical Garden, and since, only about 20 have bloomed in this country.
In 1999, when the plant bloomed in the Huntington Botanical Garden in California, more than 76,000 visitors held their noses and went to see it. In Fairchild Garden in Florida, 5,500 visitors made the trek to see the infamous blossom; and at the Botanic Garden of the University of Bonn, Germany, the line to see the flowering titan arum extended more than two miles.
The plant invests a lot of energy during blooming to heat up the sulfur-based compound in the flower stalk so the carrion-like odor will spread several feet away from the plant to attract pollinators. The plant blooms seldom because of the amount of energy needed to bloom. To add to the plant's humiliation, its pollinators include carrion beetles and flesh flies.
In spite of the plant's long preparation for its flowery display, the blooms last, at best, two to three days, so visitors will have to be vigilant to see and smell it. A flowering stalk can be seven to 12 feet in height and three to four feet in diameter. After the bloom dies, a leaf stalk resembling a tree sapling will begin to emerge.
The plant was first discovered in 1878 in Indonesia, first cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens in England in 1887. The titan arum is in the same plant family as familiar house plants such as Dieffenbachia, Philodendrons, and Anthuriums.
题图：feiliao's Blog version 2.1
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