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Corpse flower blooms at Bogor Botanical Gardens
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Precious moment: Visitors of Bogor Botanical Gardens got a rare moment on Sunday to witness the blooming of a titan arum, or known as a corpse flower. (JP/Theresia Sufa)
A corpse flower, also known as titan arum, blossomed at Bogor Botanical Gardens in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday evening.
The inflorescence of the flowering plant, that can reach three meters in height, slowly wilted after it bloomed for only several hours, possibly because it had been raining all day.
Dian Latifah, a corpse flower researcher from Bogor Botanical Gardens, said titan arum was a plant endemic to Indonesia, in which wild instances of it could be found only in Sumatran forests. The rare giant flower bloomed once every four years.
Dian said the corpse flower that bloomed at Bogor Botanical Gardens was a duplicate of a titan arum collection from Liwa Botanical Gardens in Lampung that was brought to Bogor in July. The rare flower was still adapting to its new environment.
Dian said that previously, there were 12 corpse flowers at Bogor Botanical Gardens but the number had been decreasing because of attacks from nematodes (microworms) from the fusarium fungus. Currently, only three corpse flowers are left.
“To tackle the nematode attacks, we carried out treatment using botanical pesticides and granulated coal. However, it hasn’t been successful in stopping the nematode attacks. That’s why we must continue to research how we can best protect the roots of the plants from nematodes,” said Dian.
“I knew about the corpse flower from pictures. I’m glad that I could finally see a blossoming corpse flower in person,” said Nina, a resident of Bekasi, West Java. (dra/ebf)
