| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Shirley Luna – July 6, 2004
Rare and Unusual Plant Blooming at SFA Arboretum
NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS – The eyes of the botanical world will
be on the Stephen F. Austin State University Arboretum this week, patiently
awaiting the blooming of “Jack,” an Amorphophallus titanium
that is expected to open a six-foot bloom within the next 14 days. The
plant has bloomed less than two dozen times in the United States since
1937.
While most people associate the Lumberjack mascot of Stephen F. Austin
State University with an inclination to chop things down, this is one
"Jack" that is sure to be protected from the ax. Jack is the
name given to the plant by personnel at the SFA Arboretum.
"We thought Jack was an appropriate nickname,” said Dr. David
Creech, SFA professor of agriculture and director of the Arboretum.
“Our Jack was a dormant fist-sized tuber when we received it as
a May 2000 gift to the SFA Mast Arboretum by Russell Adams of the Gainesville
Tree Farm in Florida.”
Creech said the plant was shifted from pot to pot during the next few
years and grew to a healthy 26 pounds by March 2004. Despite the rapid
growth, the plant wasn’t expected to bloom until 2008 or 2009.
Also known as the Titan Arum or corpse flower, the plant is a darling
of the strange botany world and is native to Indonesia and Sumatra.
The plant was first discovered in 1878 by an Italian botanist and first
bloomed in cultivation at Kew in 1889.
“The first American bloom was a sensation in 1937 at the New York
Botanical Garden,” Creech said. “Less than two dozen of
the plants have bloomed in the United States since then.”
Home for Jack is a big white terra-cotta pot in the shade house of the
SFA Mast Arboretum. Creech said the Titan Arum's flower, actually an
inflorescence – a cluster of reproductive organs on a moss –
is sensational whenever it happens, although the exact date of the bloom’s
arrival remains a mystery.
"Jack's flower should open in the next week or two, and the public
is invited to take a look," Creech said. “The bloom could
reach a height between 5 and 6 feet, although tubers in the wild have
produced flowers up to 12 feet tall.”
Creech said the plant’s fragrance, which is definitely unpleasant,
lasts for only eight hours.
"The immense proportions of the bloom are but part of the appeal,
as the flower smells of raw meat to attract pollinators like flies and
beetles," Creech said. "The open bloom lasts only two days
before melting away, soon to be followed by a stalk and leaf of equally
immense proportions."
For updates on Jack, contact Dawn Stover at (936) 468-4404 or visit
Jack at the Arboretum's Web site at http://arboretum.sfasu.edu/
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