RE: Dead Horse Arum

From: "Deni Bown" deni at yaxhampark.co.uk> on 2001.04.27 at 17:01:39(6285) Alan, Congratulations on your event and pictures, and many thanks for sharing them. Helicodiceros has been high on my list of favourites for many years, and I'll never forget the first time I came across it in flower. It was in Oxford Botanic Gardens, in the Alpine House of all places, with its pot buried in the display area, looking for all the world as if something from a horror movie had joined the primulas and dionysias. I didn't know much about aroids then, and had never heard of this one, so you can imagine my surprise. While I stood there aghast and unbelieving, several other people filed past to see the wonderful show of jewel-like alpines, neatly set in the gravel, and they too were visibly shocked by it. Guess someone in the Alpine Dept. had a warped sense of humour! Seeing the dead horse arum was one of the 'road to Damascus' events that changed me into an aroid fanatic. It became one of my 'holy grail' plants and at last I got one of my own, flowered it several times, and photographed it (the photos in Aroids - Plants of the Arum Family are of my plant), so I know just what you went through! Then one winter I lost it. It was growing in a pot as I had no suitable garden at the time, and I think it succumbed from damp while dormant. Tragedy! But now I have three minute tubers, thanks to Wilbert, so am hopeful the dead horse arum will ride again. Deni Bown +More -----Original Message----- Galloway Sent: 26 April 2001 16:20 To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L Subject: Dead Horse Arum A few years back, a fellow Aroid-l-er shared some tubers of Helicodiceros muscivorus with the list. The tubers that I received were planted in the garden here in Raleigh, NC, USA (USDA Zone 7) and the plants have gotten larger and larger each year. A few days ago one plant reached its maturity by producing an inflorescence. I've posted a few pictures of this awesome flower on my web site at: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~alan/plants/aroids/helicodiceros/ The flower is much larger than I expected and the odor so much worse than I had anticipated. Of all the aroids that have bloomed for me, this is the worst! It even outranks Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, which almost makes me hurl breakfast. If you notice the latter pictures, where the spathe has been cut open, the cream-colored substance is the eggs of flies. Of all the aroid flowers that I have photographed, many have had flies and other insects crawling all over the 'naughty bits', but this is the first where the flies have actually laid their eggs. Now, if I can tolerate the odor long enough to collect some pollen. Alan ------------------------------------ Alan Galloway Raleigh, North Carolina ------------------------------------

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