Dracunculus vulagris and some Brodiaea
Steve Marak (Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:04:54 PDT)
A late addition to this thread ... among the stinky tuberous aroids that I
grow (to my wife's dismay, a considerable number), the worst smelling are
the Typhoniums. Several of them smell exactly like being not very far
downwind from a very large hog farm. Those who have been will appreciate
how far up the stench scale that is, those who haven't should just be
thankful - it's a peculiarly penetrating, nose-wrinkling smell even in
small doses.
As Jane says, Dracuculus vulgaris does a perfect "dead animal" imitation,
but as Susan noted it can easily be deodorized by washing - the bouquet
she mentioned was my introduction to the species, 20-odd years ago, and
I've made bouquets of them myself several times that way.
Steve
On Tue, 9 Jun 2009, Jane McGary wrote:
Rodger wrote,
My Arum dioscorides is undoubtedly stinkier than your Dracunculus vulgaris!
Instead of rotting flesh, it smells like a compost heap that has been over-
watered and under-aerated and has, in consequence, gone to the dark side.
As it grows here, Arum dioscoridis smells very like cow manure, and
Dracunculus smells exactly like a rotting animal corpse. I'd say
Dracunculus is worse. When it blooms, my first reaction is "Where did
the dogs leave a dead mole?"
Another aggressive stinker in the bulb collection is Fritillaria
agrestis (common name, "Stink bells"). I have a number of Biarum
species, and none seems particularly offensive. I used to have some
Ferraria species in the solarium, but I got rid of them; their scent
is offensive even though it doesn't resemble anything I can identify
(lion dung, perhaps?).
-- Steve Marak
-- samarak@gizmoworks.com