Botanical Event Today!

For the first time, our Amorphophallus kojak has blossomed at the monastery. It's called the "Corpse Flower" since it smells like a dead rat, a trick the plant plays to attract flies to pollinate it. The larger species, titanum, only blossoms once in a decade or so, and when it does, it ends up on the front page of the local papers, inviting plant lovers to come to the garden and experience something truly unique. Enjoy the slideshow.

So compelling is the experience, someone wrote this poem about it.

Ode to the Corpse Flower

O grand Amorphophallus titanum, you rise,
A behemoth in disguise,
Unfurling without a care,
Filling the greenhouse air.

They flock to see your rare display,
Braving your bouquet of decay,
A scent of socks left out in the rain,
Mixed with fishwhat a strange refrain!

Your petals stretch, a burgundy throne,
But oh! The smells you own,
Like a banquet left to spoil
A testament to your arduous toil.

For every decade, maybe one grand show,
To which admirers gladly go,
Despite the olfactory plight,
To witness your blooming might.

Titan Arum, they call you too,
A titan, indeed, with a whiff of the zoo!
Yet in this odd floral fest,
Your stinky best is still the best.

Laugh, dear reader, hold your nose,
And marvel at how nature composes,
Such curious forms and scents,
In this peculiar floral event!

Can you believe the size of that flower? No.

A few months ago, our Corpse Flower did this, sending up several stalks of leaves, no flower. aThen they slowly did back.

6 months later, this happened, the flower appearing without the leaves.

The stalk is splotched, looking like a contemporary work of art.

Looking down into the open flower. Amazing color.

Sadasivanathaswami\

s sister, Devi, discovers the flower which we put out on the path to Iraivan temple to astonish pilgrims.'

This is not our plant, but shows that it stinks so bad someone needed a gas mask.

At a botanical garden, star of the show.

Our sign to explain what\

s happening to visitors. '
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