Guest guest Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010   Subject: Information re: largest flower in world inaccurate but flower is real  http://www.hoax-slayer.com/forty-year-mexican-flower-bloom.shtml  The Titan Arum is indeed the largest flower in the world, but it does not originate in Mexico  However, while specimens of the Corpse Flower may exist in gardens in Mexico, the plant certainly does not grow wild in that country as implied in the email. In fact, the native habitat of Amorphophallus titanum is the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. Moreover, the photograph of the Titan Arum included in the message was not taken in Mexico. The photograph was actually taken at Stuttgart, Germany's Wilhelma Botanical and Zoological Gardens by Lothar Grünz in October 2005. The same photograph along with details about where, when and by whom the picture was taken, is available on the Wikimedia Commons website. And, another shot published on the Wilhelma website clearly shows the same building in the background as that shown in the above photograph. While bloomings of the Amorphophallus titanum are certainly rare, and the flowers only last for two or three days, it is not true that they only bloom once every forty years as claimed in the message. The specimens kept in various botanical gardens often go for several years between blooms. However, the plants are not set to a forty year blooming cycle and many specimens have bloomed much more regularly. In " The Private Life Of Plants " , Attenborough suggests that Amorphophallus titanum in the wild bloom about once every 1000 days. Thus, it seems clear that an unknown prankster has simply taken the picture of the Wilhelma Titan Arum and tacked on some fanciful information about Mexico and a fictitious forty year bloom cycle.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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