The Secret Life of Stinky THERE’S MORE to the CORPSE FLOWER THAN ITS GIANT BLOOM by Lynne Heffley

The Secret Life of Stinky THERE’S MORE TO THE CORPSE FLOWER THAN ITS GIANT BLOOM By Lynne Heffley

Behind the scenes at The Huntington, in a quiet greenhouse tucked away from public view, something big is brewing. There, among orchids of every description, thrive 43 representatives of one of the wonders of the plant kingdom: the Corpse Flower. Scientific name: Amorphophallus titanum, or A. titanum for short.

At this stage, each plant is simply a single leaf with a trunk-like stalk, dark green, patterned with lichen-like splotches, smooth and slightly yielding to the touch, topped by an array of leaf- lets. Stretching tall from large pots, some press their crowns against netting suspended from the ceiling high overhead. They give no hint that they may one day die back to make way for the next step in their potential development: gargantuan stinky blooms that have brought visitors flocking to The Huntington since the first A. titanum flowered here in 1999. “You could call it our ‘giant panda,’ ” says Kathy Musial, curator of living collections and collections manager for The Huntington’s botanical division. If all 43 of the A. titanum were to bloom at once, the distinctive odor of rotting meat that gives the Corpse Flower its informal name would be overpowering. Just now, only the pleasant scent of loamy soil is apparent in the humid greenhouse air. Meanwhile, over in The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science, last year’s bloom, the fifth A. titanum to flower at The Hun- tington—offspring of the 1999 plant—is on display in its final fruit-bearing stage. inspire younger generations to get interested in the Above: In a greenhouse filled The successful cultivation of such a large num- natural world,” she says, “and to perhaps consider mostly with orchids, the trunk-like stalk of a single Amorphophallus ber of these exotic plants so far from their natural it as a career or a course of study, and as something titanum leaf presses against habitat in the rain forests of Sumatra attests not only that they feel is worth saving.” netting as it reaches for the sunlight. Left: A Corpse Flower, to unflagging public interest in the stinky bloom, One of more than 3,000 aroid species, A. titanum in full bloom, stands tall at night but also to the breadth and depth of The Hunting- is the megastar of the 200 species of plants within the in The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. ton’s ongoing research into its ecology, physiology, Amorphophallus genus. Found in the tropics of Photographs by Kate Lain. and biology, and to the institution’s mission of Asia and Africa, some of these plant species are as plant conservation. impressive in size and appearance as the infamous “These are not just fabulous, wonderful, super- Corpse Flower; many others are small tuberous herbs. cool plants,” Musial says. “Many tropical areas are At the beginning of the plant’s initial growing being cleared for palm oil plantations, so every- phase, during which it appears more and more where you turn, there’s something being wiped tree-like, a leaf sprouts from a corm—a bulbous out. We want to share these things and, hopefully, tuber that can weigh upwards of 250 pounds and

2219 huntington.org huntington.org 23 The Secret Life of Stinky THERE’S MORE TO THE CORPSE FLOWER THAN ITS GIANT BLOOM By Lynne Heffley

2219 huntington.org huntington.org 23 maybe it’s a little more swollen toward the base. And That’s where John Trager, curator of The to UC Santa Barbara, where an A. titanum would Left: Dylan Hannon, curator of then, after many days, you determine that it’s not Huntington’s desert gardens and collections, comes shortly bloom. This pollen sharing produced a The Huntington’s conservatory and tropical collections, holds a going to be another leaf, it’s going to be a flower.” in. In 1999, after the Huntington’s historic first bountiful crop of fertile seeds that, coming full large Corpse Flower corm in his And that’s when things really heat up for all bloom made headlines worldwide, Musial suggested circle, is the source of the 43 plants now growing hands. Right: John Trager pollinates Amorphophallus concerned at The Huntington. Although the A. self-pollination of the A. titanum—thought to be vigorously in The Huntington’s orchid greenhouse. titanum. Photographs by Kate Lain. titanum bloom develops over a period of weeks impossible—to see if it could be done. As it turned The study of A. titanum at The Huntington looks something like a misshapen potato. (The Left: Adam Cole, the “wrangler” and can grow up to six inches a day, the life span out, it wasn’t a stretch for Trager, drawing from his includes numerous seed and pollen sharings among of the social media site Skunk largest corm to develop at The Huntington thus of the full bloom, which may attain a diameter of years of experience with the active propagation of various institutions and universities and has sparked Bear, National Public Radio’s far weighed an estimated 50 pounds.) Science Tumblr, saw The four feet and a height of eight feet or more, is only diverse desert plants, to pioneer an experimental surprisingly diverse areas of research. Huntington’s own Tumblr posts Despite its size, it is a misnomer to call it the one or two days. pollination technique that would work on the In 2009, Brazilian atmospheric chemist and about its Corpse Flower bloom world’s largest flower. What appears to be a velvety, in August 2014. This inspired In the flurry of activity that follows the real- tropical A. titanum. botanical volunteer Antonio H. Miguel, together Cole to create, for the NPR site, ruffled petal structure in A. titanum’s malodorous, ization that yes, a bloom is in the offing, and this Knowing that he had to hasten the maturation with John Trager, collected samples of volatile the three watercolor and felt-tip enormous blooming phase is actually a spathe (a pen illustrations that appear on is it, “you get all your cameras set up, and get the of the male flowers in order to have pollen to work emissions from the inflorescence of “Son of Stinky,” this and the following pages. modified leaf) that sheaths the inflorescence—the word out,” Hannon says. As excitement builds, the with, and combining science and everyday practi- the nearly 7-foot bloom that grew that year from Illustration courtesy of Adam flower-bearing part of the plant. Jutting several Cole/NPR. Right: A crowd Corpse Flower is moved to a position for optimum cality, Trager cut some of the flowers off the spadix, seed produced by The Huntington’s original 1999 gathers to hear John Trager, feet up above the spathe, a baguette-shaped spike public viewing . . . and then the wait begins for it took them home, put them in a bag of rotting apples plant. The composition of the collected inflorescence curator of The Huntington’s called a spadix bears the clusters of small male desert gardens and collections, to unfold. “There’s a little variation in how fast it and set the bag on his stovetop overnight, hoping vapors was analyzed by research scientists JiYi Lee talk about the Corpse Flower’s and female flowers in segregated spirals at its base. can bloom,” Hannon says wryly. “I mean, it is a that the ethylene gas generated by the apples would (Chosun University, Department of Environmental bloom. Trager is immediately to It is the plant kingdom’s “most massive un- the left of the flower. plant. It’s not reading the clock.” speed up the maturation process. Engineering, South Korea) and Douglas A. Lane Photograph by Kate Lain. branched inflorescence,” says Dylan Hannon, (“It’s hard to catch it in the act,” quips Hunting- It worked up to a point, he says. “Normally (Environment Canada, Toronto), using a state-of- curator of the conservatory and tropical collections. ton spokesperson Lisa Blackburn.) when the male flowers are on the plant, the pollen the-art instrument called a gas chromatograph– When the showy spathe withers away, the A. The suspense doesn’t end with the bloom. When is extruded out of the flower and hangs down in quadrupole mass spectrometer, capable of detecting titanum undergoes another dramatic transforma- it withers, botanists wait months to learn if their gummy strings. That didn’t happen on my stovetop, upwards of 10,000 chemical compounds. Hundreds tion: over a period of six to 12 months, each female efforts to pollinate the plant have produced fertile so I had to cut open the anthers to extract the pollen.” of compounds were identified and quantified, includ- flower will develop a thumb-sized, red-orange berry fruit. A. titanum, you see, doesn’t self-pollinate. Using a dissecting scope, Trager was then able to ing the key “smelly” chemicals dimethyl disulfide and containing up to three seeds. The female flowers on the spadix open first; the pollinate several still-receptive female flowers. dimethyl trisulfide. Miguel presented the findings One major challenge, however, is the plant’s male flowers release their pollen only after the The process ultimately yielded 10 fertile seeds. (co-authored with Lane, Lee, and Trager) at a re- penchant for keeping botanists in suspense about female flowers are no longer receptive. In the wild, “To my knowledge,” Musial observes, “nobody search conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2011 its intention to flower. When a spike erupts from this strategy invites cross-pollination with other else has done this. If they have, they haven’t pub- under the title “Inflorescence Composition of Volatile its corm after a lengthy, leafless dormancy period, A. titanum plants. licized it.” Emissions of Amorphophallus titanum (Araceae).” the difference in appearance between flower and Without the natural pollen sources and insect When the same plant flowered again in 2002 “Worthy of note,” the report summary states, leaf is “very subtle,” Musial says. pollinators of Sumatra’s equatorial rain forest, the (subsequently but unsuccessfully fertilized with “was a ‘nose-detection’ in the change of the smelly “You have to wait for it to pop up out of the only hope for A. titanum’s propagation outside of frozen pollen donated by Fullerton Arboretum and odor, from rotten eggs at the beginning, to boiled ground,” Hannon says, “then maybe the new shoot its natural environs lies with the plant’s human fresh pollen Fed-Exed in from the University of asparagus several hours after the start of the plant’s that comes up starts looking a little different— caretakers. Michigan), The Huntington sent its fresh pollen bloom. Another interesting observation during

24 huntington.org huntington.org 25 maybe it’s a little more swollen toward the base. And That’s where John Trager, curator of The to UC Santa Barbara, where an A. titanum would Left: Dylan Hannon, curator of then, after many days, you determine that it’s not Huntington’s desert gardens and collections, comes shortly bloom. This pollen sharing produced a The Huntington’s conservatory and tropical collections, holds a going to be another leaf, it’s going to be a flower.” in. In 1999, after the Huntington’s historic first bountiful crop of fertile seeds that, coming full large Corpse Flower corm in his And that’s when things really heat up for all bloom made headlines worldwide, Musial suggested circle, is the source of the 43 plants now growing hands. Right: John Trager pollinates Amorphophallus concerned at The Huntington. Although the A. self-pollination of the A. titanum—thought to be vigorously in The Huntington’s orchid greenhouse. titanum. Photographs by Kate Lain. titanum bloom develops over a period of weeks impossible—to see if it could be done. As it turned The study of A. titanum at The Huntington looks something like a misshapen potato. (The Left: Adam Cole, the “wrangler” and can grow up to six inches a day, the life span out, it wasn’t a stretch for Trager, drawing from his includes numerous seed and pollen sharings among of the social media site Skunk largest corm to develop at The Huntington thus of the full bloom, which may attain a diameter of years of experience with the active propagation of various institutions and universities and has sparked Bear, National Public Radio’s far weighed an estimated 50 pounds.) Science Tumblr, saw The four feet and a height of eight feet or more, is only diverse desert plants, to pioneer an experimental surprisingly diverse areas of research. Huntington’s own Tumblr posts Despite its size, it is a misnomer to call it the one or two days. pollination technique that would work on the In 2009, Brazilian atmospheric chemist and about its Corpse Flower bloom world’s largest flower. What appears to be a velvety, in August 2014. This inspired In the flurry of activity that follows the real- tropical A. titanum. botanical volunteer Antonio H. Miguel, together Cole to create, for the NPR site, ruffled petal structure in A. titanum’s malodorous, ization that yes, a bloom is in the offing, and this Knowing that he had to hasten the maturation with John Trager, collected samples of volatile the three watercolor and felt-tip enormous blooming phase is actually a spathe (a pen illustrations that appear on is it, “you get all your cameras set up, and get the of the male flowers in order to have pollen to work emissions from the inflorescence of “Son of Stinky,” this and the following pages. modified leaf) that sheaths the inflorescence—the word out,” Hannon says. As excitement builds, the with, and combining science and everyday practi- the nearly 7-foot bloom that grew that year from Illustration courtesy of Adam flower-bearing part of the plant. Jutting several Cole/NPR. Right: A crowd Corpse Flower is moved to a position for optimum cality, Trager cut some of the flowers off the spadix, seed produced by The Huntington’s original 1999 gathers to hear John Trager, feet up above the spathe, a baguette-shaped spike public viewing . . . and then the wait begins for it took them home, put them in a bag of rotting apples plant. The composition of the collected inflorescence curator of The Huntington’s called a spadix bears the clusters of small male desert gardens and collections, to unfold. “There’s a little variation in how fast it and set the bag on his stovetop overnight, hoping vapors was analyzed by research scientists JiYi Lee talk about the Corpse Flower’s and female flowers in segregated spirals at its base. can bloom,” Hannon says wryly. “I mean, it is a that the ethylene gas generated by the apples would (Chosun University, Department of Environmental bloom. Trager is immediately to It is the plant kingdom’s “most massive un- the left of the flower. plant. It’s not reading the clock.” speed up the maturation process. Engineering, South Korea) and Douglas A. Lane Photograph by Kate Lain. branched inflorescence,” says Dylan Hannon, (“It’s hard to catch it in the act,” quips Hunting- It worked up to a point, he says. “Normally (Environment Canada, Toronto), using a state-of- curator of the conservatory and tropical collections. ton spokesperson Lisa Blackburn.) when the male flowers are on the plant, the pollen the-art instrument called a gas chromatograph– When the showy spathe withers away, the A. The suspense doesn’t end with the bloom. When is extruded out of the flower and hangs down in quadrupole mass spectrometer, capable of detecting titanum undergoes another dramatic transforma- it withers, botanists wait months to learn if their gummy strings. That didn’t happen on my stovetop, upwards of 10,000 chemical compounds. Hundreds tion: over a period of six to 12 months, each female efforts to pollinate the plant have produced fertile so I had to cut open the anthers to extract the pollen.” of compounds were identified and quantified, includ- flower will develop a thumb-sized, red-orange berry fruit. A. titanum, you see, doesn’t self-pollinate. Using a dissecting scope, Trager was then able to ing the key “smelly” chemicals dimethyl disulfide and containing up to three seeds. The female flowers on the spadix open first; the pollinate several still-receptive female flowers. dimethyl trisulfide. Miguel presented the findings One major challenge, however, is the plant’s male flowers release their pollen only after the The process ultimately yielded 10 fertile seeds. (co-authored with Lane, Lee, and Trager) at a re- penchant for keeping botanists in suspense about female flowers are no longer receptive. In the wild, “To my knowledge,” Musial observes, “nobody search conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2011 its intention to flower. When a spike erupts from this strategy invites cross-pollination with other else has done this. If they have, they haven’t pub- under the title “Inflorescence Composition of Volatile its corm after a lengthy, leafless dormancy period, A. titanum plants. licized it.” Emissions of Amorphophallus titanum (Araceae).” the difference in appearance between flower and Without the natural pollen sources and insect When the same plant flowered again in 2002 “Worthy of note,” the report summary states, leaf is “very subtle,” Musial says. pollinators of Sumatra’s equatorial rain forest, the (subsequently but unsuccessfully fertilized with “was a ‘nose-detection’ in the change of the smelly “You have to wait for it to pop up out of the only hope for A. titanum’s propagation outside of frozen pollen donated by Fullerton Arboretum and odor, from rotten eggs at the beginning, to boiled ground,” Hannon says, “then maybe the new shoot its natural environs lies with the plant’s human fresh pollen Fed-Exed in from the University of asparagus several hours after the start of the plant’s that comes up starts looking a little different— caretakers. Michigan), The Huntington sent its fresh pollen bloom. Another interesting observation during

24 huntington.org huntington.org 25 (Food for thought: Miguel, whose professional focus is air pollution in large urban centers, was “quite familiar with the compounds we found,” he says, “because you find a lot of those in the atmosphere.”) For Hannon, a further area of interest is just how A. titanum found its way to countries so foreign to its native habitat. The specimen that bloomed at The Huntington in 1999, for instance, came from Arizona botanist Mark Dimmitt, who had obtained one reason we left it on display in the Conservatory, thought to botany and horticulture.” (For more three seeds or cormlets from the Palmengarten in so that people could see this process.” information about the aroid family, Hannon urges Frankfurt, Germany. These had been collected After all, there is much more to the A. titanum people to check out the International Aroid Society’s previously by the late James R. Symon in Sumatra than its unusual appearance and eye-watering website: aroid.org.) in 1993. stench, Trager stresses. “There’s a whole ecology At The Huntington, home so far to five Corpse “It seems probable that at least a couple of dif- associated with it. Not just in the common vernac- Flowers in all their full-blown, pungent glory, it is ferent introductions from the wild have resulted in ular sense of conservation, but in the interrelations only a matter of time before there is a sixth—and all the cultivated plants of this species that we know of all of the other life forms that grow with it. more, Trager says. of,” says Hannon, adding that the provenance of There’s a lot we can learn from this, and from the “Perhaps the reason that we haven’t flowered many collected species is an underexplored area. fact that it has such a different pollination strategy them more frequently is because of space limita- A. titanum’s unusual properties have also re- than people are used to: the typical birds and bees tions,” he says. “Apparently the bigger you pot ’em, cently fallen within the purview of cryopreserva- pollinators.” Even the splotchy pattern on the leaf the faster they grow and the quicker they flower.” tionist Raquel Folgado. A research fellow at The blade has significance, he observes. But with the impressive number of A. titanum now Huntington, Folgado is working to develop pro- It is thought to be “a self-preservation thing,” growing in The Huntington’s greenhouse, “at some tocols for the conservation of plant germplasm he says. “The theory is that it catches the eye of point,” Trager says, “we’ll probably have multiple (genetic material) by freezing it in liquid nitrogen. large animals running through the forest, so that plants flowering at once and have a really big stink.” Cryopreservation’s main advantage, she says, “is they would think it was a lichen-encrusted tree “That’s what we’re hoping for,” Musial agrees, that you can store plant material for the long term, and would avoid running into it.” “a mass flowering. I joked back in the early days theoretically forever, because all biochemical reac- People often ask Hannon how they can grow that I wanted to have an ‘Amorphophallus Stone- tions in the plant are stopped.” their own A. titanum, he says. “You could,” he henge’ down on the Australian garden lawn. Or, The day after she arrived at The Huntington tells them, “but you’d have to maintain warmth as John would more aptly call it, ‘Stinkhenge.’” last August to begin her two-year fellowship, and humidity all year round, and you’d have to Folgado helped Trager collect pollen from the most have a fairly big greenhouse, or maybe a big sun Lynne Heffley is a freelance writer based in South recent A. titanum bloom to freeze for future use. porch. Once it’s growing, when it’s leafed out, it’s Pasadena, Calif. It had been pollinated earlier using frozen pollen pretty standard care for a tropical plant.” obtained from Orange Coast College, but whether “The tricky part is when it goes dormant,” frozen pollen will prove viable in A. titanum’s case Hannon says. “What do you do with it when you’re has yet to be determined, as far as Trager is aware. just looking at a pot with no leaf, no flower, no An attempt to pollinate one of The Huntington’s bud, nothing, just soil. You have to determine how previous blooms using both fresh and frozen much it should get watered. Should you keep it dry? pollen failed. How dry?” “So it was time to try again,” Trager says, “and And while the Corpse Flower can no longer be prove that it can be done.” So far, he is optimistic. called rare in the United States “because lots of In its pot in the Conservatory, the plant’s fruit has people have flowered it now,” Hannon says, it remains uncommon and unpredictable. If home Top: Illustration courtesy of the early hours after the opening of the spathe,” formed exclusively on the side of the inflorescence Adam Cole/NPR. Bottom: After the summary concludes, “was the occurrence of a where the frozen pollen was applied, he notes. “The growers prefer to try something smaller and less the crimson spathe of a Corpse temperamental, other members of the aroid family, Flower bloom withers away, gas-to-particle process which produced fine light- fact that the fruiting structure has been getting each female flower—over a scattering particles.” heavier and heavier, yet still hasn’t collapsed, is a he points out, “are even more beautiful and inter- period of six to 12 months— esting looking.” develops a thumb-sized, red “Basically,” Miguel says, “it’s the sulfur com- good sign that something is still going on there. or orange berry that contains pounds that attract the insects.” In the wild, “they “I suspect that it will have a combination of Still, “this thing is so outsized that it gets one to three seeds. Photograph people’s minds focused on plants, and that’s a by Kate Lain. Right: Illustration come in thinking it’s a dead piece of meat, they some fertile and some non-fertile fruits,” Trager courtesy of Adam Cole/NPR. bring pollen and then,” he says, “they do what the says, “because even when they’re not fertilized, the good thing,” Hannon says. “From there they can plants like them to do.” red pericarp will develop to some extent. That’s learn about other plants and give a little more

26 huntington.org huntington.org 27 (Food for thought: Miguel, whose professional focus is air pollution in large urban centers, was “quite familiar with the compounds we found,” he says, “because you find a lot of those in the atmosphere.”) For Hannon, a further area of interest is just how A. titanum found its way to countries so foreign to its native habitat. The specimen that bloomed at The Huntington in 1999, for instance, came from Arizona botanist Mark Dimmitt, who had obtained one reason we left it on display in the Conservatory, thought to botany and horticulture.” (For more three seeds or cormlets from the Palmengarten in so that people could see this process.” information about the aroid family, Hannon urges Frankfurt, Germany. These had been collected After all, there is much more to the A. titanum people to check out the International Aroid Society’s previously by the late James R. Symon in Sumatra than its unusual appearance and eye-watering website: aroid.org.) in 1993. stench, Trager stresses. “There’s a whole ecology At The Huntington, home so far to five Corpse “It seems probable that at least a couple of dif- associated with it. Not just in the common vernac- Flowers in all their full-blown, pungent glory, it is ferent introductions from the wild have resulted in ular sense of conservation, but in the interrelations only a matter of time before there is a sixth—and all the cultivated plants of this species that we know of all of the other life forms that grow with it. more, Trager says. of,” says Hannon, adding that the provenance of There’s a lot we can learn from this, and from the “Perhaps the reason that we haven’t flowered many collected species is an underexplored area. fact that it has such a different pollination strategy them more frequently is because of space limita- A. titanum’s unusual properties have also re- than people are used to: the typical birds and bees tions,” he says. “Apparently the bigger you pot ’em, cently fallen within the purview of cryopreserva- pollinators.” Even the splotchy pattern on the leaf the faster they grow and the quicker they flower.” tionist Raquel Folgado. A research fellow at The blade has significance, he observes. But with the impressive number of A. titanum now Huntington, Folgado is working to develop pro- It is thought to be “a self-preservation thing,” growing in The Huntington’s greenhouse, “at some tocols for the conservation of plant germplasm he says. “The theory is that it catches the eye of point,” Trager says, “we’ll probably have multiple (genetic material) by freezing it in liquid nitrogen. large animals running through the forest, so that plants flowering at once and have a really big stink.” Cryopreservation’s main advantage, she says, “is they would think it was a lichen-encrusted tree “That’s what we’re hoping for,” Musial agrees, that you can store plant material for the long term, and would avoid running into it.” “a mass flowering. I joked back in the early days theoretically forever, because all biochemical reac- People often ask Hannon how they can grow that I wanted to have an ‘Amorphophallus Stone- tions in the plant are stopped.” their own A. titanum, he says. “You could,” he henge’ down on the Australian garden lawn. Or, The day after she arrived at The Huntington tells them, “but you’d have to maintain warmth as John would more aptly call it, ‘Stinkhenge.’” last August to begin her two-year fellowship, and humidity all year round, and you’d have to Folgado helped Trager collect pollen from the most have a fairly big greenhouse, or maybe a big sun Lynne Heffley is a freelance writer based in South recent A. titanum bloom to freeze for future use. porch. Once it’s growing, when it’s leafed out, it’s Pasadena, Calif. It had been pollinated earlier using frozen pollen pretty standard care for a tropical plant.” obtained from Orange Coast College, but whether “The tricky part is when it goes dormant,” frozen pollen will prove viable in A. titanum’s case Hannon says. “What do you do with it when you’re has yet to be determined, as far as Trager is aware. just looking at a pot with no leaf, no flower, no An attempt to pollinate one of The Huntington’s bud, nothing, just soil. You have to determine how previous blooms using both fresh and frozen much it should get watered. Should you keep it dry? pollen failed. How dry?” “So it was time to try again,” Trager says, “and And while the Corpse Flower can no longer be prove that it can be done.” So far, he is optimistic. called rare in the United States “because lots of In its pot in the Conservatory, the plant’s fruit has people have flowered it now,” Hannon says, it remains uncommon and unpredictable. If home Top: Illustration courtesy of the early hours after the opening of the spathe,” formed exclusively on the side of the inflorescence Adam Cole/NPR. Bottom: After the summary concludes, “was the occurrence of a where the frozen pollen was applied, he notes. “The growers prefer to try something smaller and less the crimson spathe of a Corpse temperamental, other members of the aroid family, Flower bloom withers away, gas-to-particle process which produced fine light- fact that the fruiting structure has been getting each female flower—over a scattering particles.” heavier and heavier, yet still hasn’t collapsed, is a he points out, “are even more beautiful and inter- period of six to 12 months— esting looking.” develops a thumb-sized, red “Basically,” Miguel says, “it’s the sulfur com- good sign that something is still going on there. or orange berry that contains pounds that attract the insects.” In the wild, “they “I suspect that it will have a combination of Still, “this thing is so outsized that it gets one to three seeds. Photograph people’s minds focused on plants, and that’s a by Kate Lain. Right: Illustration come in thinking it’s a dead piece of meat, they some fertile and some non-fertile fruits,” Trager courtesy of Adam Cole/NPR. bring pollen and then,” he says, “they do what the says, “because even when they’re not fertilized, the good thing,” Hannon says. “From there they can plants like them to do.” red pericarp will develop to some extent. That’s learn about other plants and give a little more

26 huntington.org huntington.org 27