Judy: The beauty of it is that the carrion beetles get nothing and the plants get pollinated. Arnold Jun 15, 2011 01:12:19 PM, pbs@lists.ibiblio.org wrote: My Stinky Aroids - Dracunculus vulgaris and Sauromatum venosum - are in flower. They announce this event with a stench that makes me think there's a dead woodchuck somewhere around here. I've seen carrion beetles on the Dracunculus. However neighborhood dogs - who would otherwise find the most odoriferous, rotting dead deer in which to roll - ignore both plants. Is there some subtle chemical marker that a dog's superior olfactory powers finds lacking? I was discussing this with a friend and she wondered what the carrion beetles get out of this. False advertising, I suspect, and the beetles get nothing. Any comments, observations? Judy in New Jersey with delightful summer weather today - and more rain on the way.