From Gwynne Lim, graduate student, Department of Biology. Pictures from Andy Leed, manager of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences greenhouses for the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station.
For those wondering, here’s an update on Wee Stinky and our attempt at pollination.
It worked!
For those who were following Wee Stinky when it was flowering, you may remember the female flowers that had elongate purple styles with a yellow sticky bump at the end.
Now that the gametes from the pollen have successfully fertilized the ovules, the styles have all shriveled (like the tip of the bananas we eat). You can see the bases swelling up as individual fruits get bigger. They are turning lovely apricot color (orange-yellow) that will only intensify and shade towards scarlet red.
As you can see, we’ve peeled off the spathe entirely, and taken off the appendix. The male flowers are gone, and so is the gorgeous purple bell-like leaf. Shortly after flowering, those tissues lost most of their water and shriveled up. Given the humid conditions we keep the arum in, they grow moldy very quickly. Andy and the other greenhouse workers cut them off so the rot would not spread to the ripening fruit. It is likely that in the wild where it is also humid and warm, the spathe and appendix will also rot off, leaving just the ripening fruits exposed to the animals that will help disperse it.
Also! For those who may have missed the flower but are close to the Canadian border, I’m happy to announce that here’s your chance! Kathie Hodge from the Mycology Department has informed me that there’s another titan arum blooming at Niagara Parks! Get there tonight for the best bloom. More information.
For those who are unable to catch that, don’t fret. We might still get another bloom. The younger clone of Wee Stinky has just died back for another growing season, and we may be lucky enough to catch another flowering event sooner rather than later.
