RE: Malodorous plants
cdills@fix.net writes:
>I can't believe this thread.
> I cannot understand why a person plant something they know is
>going to stink when it blooms. But then again, I grow bromeliads and
>they
>ofter have horrendous spines. I gues it's literally live and let live.
And stinky plant growers would probably say the same of cacti growers
("how can they grow those things with their horrendous and painful
spines!")
> I seem to remember reading about another Arum, supposedly that
>looks like a gigantic skunk cabbage more than ten feet high at bloom.
>And
>it has a commensurate stench I'm told.
I think its Latin is Amorphophallus titanum. Ive heard the stench is so
powerful it can cause people to pass out who smell it. Theres a
Sardinian arum that supposedly has a stench as stong as a rotting sheep
carcass (Helicodiceros muscivorus)
> I understnd the the female Gingko tree rewards us with an
>evil-smelling fruit if there is a male nearby.
I've never had that pleasure, but the smell comes from butyric acid
that the seeds produce when they rot. Some people say it smells like
vomit, while others like rancid butter (which by the way, butyric acid
is what gives rancid butter its odor). However if you can get past the
smell, the seeds are a delicacy. You just wash off the rotting outer
layer and get to the greenish yellow inner parts. I think the japanese
make a type of pudding from the seeds.
