A REPULSIVE PLANT.

Evening Star, Issue 4021, 15 January 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

A REPULSIVE PLANT.

Mention is made by the ' Chronicle ' of a strange-looking flower in the Maryborough (Queensland) Botanic Garden, which attracts attention by its hideous appearance and atrocious odor. Without steam, stalk, or leaves, the calyx, in shape and size like a wash-hand basin, proceeds immediately from the large tuberous root, and envelopes a thick columnar spadix, the upper part of which is surmounted by a rounded hood. The whole plant or ilower is of a repulsive hver-colored hue, and at a little distance looks like a portion of the " pluck" of some dead animal, an illusion strengthened by its exhaling a strong smell of putrid meat, which attracts clouds of blow-flies. This latter characteristic, however, was only temporary ; as soon as the flies had performed their part by scattering the pollen and fertilising the blossom, the stench, for such it really Mas—entirely ceased. The plant in question is the Amorphophallus campanalatus, and is a member of the Araceous order, which includes the S. S. Island taro, the caladiums and other useful plants. The one here referred to, if not ornamental, is one of sufficient utility to deserve extended cultivation. It is called "01' by the Bengalese, and is also known in India as the Telinga potato, being largely grown in the Northern Circars, where, according to I)r Roxburgh, itis much esteemed fo rthc wholesomeness and nourishing quality of the root, whicli grow to an enormous size, forming a mass almost too heavy for a man to lift. The introduction of the plant as a field crop wouid, however, evidently lie attended with a certain amount of " unpleasantness." Judging;from the strength of the emanations of only one plant—which were plainly perceptible many yards off—a field of Amorphophallus in full bloom would, for the time being, suffice to depopulate a whole district.