An offspring of Cornell’s famed Titan arum dubbed Wee Stinky bloomed at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio, July10. The plant, grown from seed germinated grower Kendra Hutchins and cared for by Cornell AES greenhouse grower Paul Cooper after it was about a year old until 2016, is Wee Stinky’s first progeny bloom.
Titan arums don’t self-pollinate. So greenhouse staff at Binghamton University donated pollen they collected from a Titan arum they were growing named Metis. Cornell staff germinated many seeds from that flowering and donated plants to other Conservatories to aid preservation of this endangered species.
In 2016, Cooper gave this plant (that would be named Bob Smellanor on flowering) for an auction by the International Plant Propagators Society. Two Columbus residents purchased the plant and then donated it to the Franklin Park Conservatory.
Cooper says the Titan arum is traditionally named once it blooms the first time. The Franklin Park Conservatory held a naming contest and bestowed both the top choices, says Franklin Park marketing coordinator Kate Liebers. “I think this is the first Titan with a first and last name,” she adds.
We were expecting that Wee Stinky would flower again in late winter or early spring 2021. But the plant unexpectedly cut short its vegetative stage and went dormant last spring. For the first time since its first flowering in 2012, it has initiated a second vegetative phase of its life cycle. Likely sibling Carolus — currently in leaf — will be the next Titan arum to flower at Cornell, perhaps as early as late 2021.
Just a reminder: The Liberty Hyde Bailey Conservatory closed to the public until further notice. [Note this was posted October 2020. Conservatory has since reopened.]
Faculty and graduate students who require access for research or virtual classroom support, please reach out to Melissa Brechner, Greenhouse Supervisor at mlk38@cornell.edu, or Paul Cooper, Conservatory Grower, pac30@cornell.edu.
Avoid vestibule at north end of the Conservatory. (Where it attached to Plant Science Building.) The area is closed except for emergency egress due to construction. Please obey all signage. Window treatments preclude viewing interior of Conservatory from that area anyway.
More about the Franklin Park flowering: Meet Bob Smellanor, Franklin Park Conservatory’s Corpse Flower [Columbus Monthly 2020-10-12].