In a noteworthy development, an endangered “corpse flower” at the Tsukuba Botanical Garden in Japan has borne fruit, marking a significant achievement for the institution. The titan arum, renowned for its massive size and foul odor reminiscent of rotting flesh, produced 736 bright red fruits.
The success was attributed to a stroke of luck, as two of these rare flowers bloomed in quick succession, coupled with the dedicated efforts of the garden’s staff amid the distinctive stench. The titan arum, native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is a member of the taro family and features a large “inflorescence” composed of numerous small flowers.
Notably, the titan arum flowers infrequently, only for two to three days every few years, and its flowering cycle is not synchronized, making natural pollination a rarity. Despite the Tsukuba Botanical Garden’s possession of over 10 titan arum plants, only one had bloomed since 2012 before this recent occurrence.
In a unique attempt at artificial pollination, researchers collected pollen from a blooming plant on May 20 and applied it to a second plant seven days later, overcoming the challenges posed by the plant’s sporadic blooming schedule. The successful pollination led to the growth of approximately 736 fruits, each about 4 centimeters in diameter.
Researchers are now focused on harvesting the ripe fruits and planting the seeds in pots, with expectations that the seeds will germinate later this month. The titan arum is notoriously difficult to cultivate, but the botanical garden staff is eager to witness the growth of these plants from seed, marking a historic achievement in Japan’s botanical landscape.
