Dracunculus vulagris

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:08:06 PDT
Susan B wrote: " Someone on the Aroid list reported walking through some
offices and seeing a BOUQUET of Dracunculus vul. flowers.  When asked about
the smell, they lady said, 'oh, I just spray them off with a hose and they
stop smelling'. "

As a matter of fact, the stink comes from the spadix. If you remove the
spadix and dispose of it, you can enjoy the lurid calla lily without giving
offense to your cubicle neighbors. 

I once gave a corm of the similar Amorphophallus konjac to a boss about whom
I was pretty ambivalent. I was pretty sure it was of blooming size, and I
urged her to keep it on her desk to see what would happen. Well, happen it
did, and the timing was perfect: weeks later, it bloomed on a weekend while
no one was there to surgically interfere. When boss got back on Monday, the
Amorphophallus was saying with reeking flowers what I had not cared to spell
out in words.  

Hmmm... I wonder what meaning/intentions those Victorian romance-of-flowers
books would have ascribed to these stinkers. 

Jim McKenney




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