Projected bloom date: May 23. Check for daily updates and streaming live video from the greenhouse: http://ohiostatetitanarum.click2stream.com/

A plant with three names: Amorphophallus Titanum (its official, Latin name) Titan Arum, (the shortened, familiar name) and Corpse Flower (its very apt moniker), has to be special.

But, by any name, it’s a blooming miracle! Most people will never have the chance to see—and smell—one.

Last year, thousands thronged to Ohio State’s Biological Sciences Greenhouse, standing patiently in line to see our first Titan Arum bloom. And, now folks who missed it have another, unprecedented chance. There will be return visitors too, because believe it or not, Titans have groupies.

Why do people get excited about the blooming of a Titan Arum?

So many reasons: It is the world’s largest blooming leaf, even in cultivation it can grow more than 9 feet tall and sport the girth of a hefty man’s thigh. Add to that the pervasive unrefrigerated meat smell it exudes while blooming.

All of this can stir the public imagination--and put a bit of stink in its nose.

And it is rare. Even in its native habitat, the tropical rainforests of Indonesia’s Sumatran Islands, it is uncommon.

There, it can soar to 20 feet or more, but because it cannot self-pollinate, it is not about to overrun other vegetation.

Only a lucky few have ever seen a Titan; fewer still have seen one in bloom.

It is difficult to grow, harder yet to coax to bloom. Less than a hundred and fifty have bloomed worldwide in the past 130 years. In the United States, less than 40 institutions (including Ohio State) have been able to grow and bloom a Titan since its introduction to the states in 1937.

Given how spectacular and rare they are; it is little wonder that the chance to see one in bloom is an event.

When Ohio State’s first Titan (named "Woody" for the great Woody Hayes) bloomed in April 2011, more than one visitor to the Biological Sciences Greenhouse said, “I’ve waited all my life to see this.”

Biological Sciences Greenhouse Coordinator Joan Leonard had been waiting too--for the seed she planted in November 2001 to bloom.

Leonard planted four other Titan arum seeds at the same time. Last spring they remained very tall tree-like leafs looming over their blooming sibling, biding their time.

The Time Has Come

A month or so ago, Leonard noticed unmistakable signs: weight gain and a slightly bulging mid-section. But Leonard is patient and she has been down this road before, so she waited and checked daily.

Anxious colleagues gathered and walked around the Titan, doing their own inspection tours. Heads shook up and down. Even non-plant biologists could read the “leaves.”

This past Monday, May 14, Leonard gave the official nod and gave it a name, "Jesse," for another great Ohio State hero, Jesse Owens. It was a go--and now everyone is on high alert. Projected blooming is May 23, but as Leonard says, "They have their own agenda."

To Propagate--or Not to Propagate?

For Leonard, there is no question. If you can, you do.

Since they can’t self-pollinate, there is the problem of “getting pregnant.”

In the wild, lacking a Joan Leonard, they are pollinated by sweat bees, carrion beetles, and flies, which are attracted by the rancid odor, said to be detectable from a quarter-mile away.

Once successfully pollinated, they face an arduous gestation period.

The Titan Arum emerges from and stores energy in a huge underground stem called a tuber.

The plant’s blooming schedule is completely unpredictable; it usually takes several years for it to accumulate sufficient energy to summon the power to blast up a bloom--if it ever does.

The Titan Arum is under additional population pressure as its only native habitat is rapidly being destroyed, primarily due to illegal logging and land conversion for agriculture use to feed a growing population.

Seventy percent is already gone and Titans are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

So, the race is on to save it from extinction.

Leonard intends to do her part, “This is THE flagship species for any serious botanical garden or conservatory,” she said.

It’s All in the Timing:

Not being able to self-pollinate, conservatories need access to pollen from other Titans to propagate their plants.

Last year, it was a stroke of sheer luck that the University of Pittsburgh’s first Titan bloomed in March; they were more than happy to donate some of their pollen to Leonard.

“I was thrilled that we would be able to hand-pollinate Woody with pollen collected from a sibling titan.”

Typically, blooms last from 1 – 3 days. But, the plant must be pollinated on the evening of its first day of bloom for propagation to be successful.

Once it has been pollinated, the bloom begins to shrink and die.

Leonard is cheerfully willing to sacrifice an extra day or so of one plant’s bloom if it helps to save the species.

A Rose It Is Not

Its characteristic foul stench, which earned it the corpse flower nickname, certainly makes it unlikely that it would end up as a floral decoration of any kind—that, and its size.

However; for some, that distinct “stinkiness,” combined with everything else that makes it unique, is part of its attraction. Few people stand in line for hours or travel the world to see a rose in bloom. After all, a rose is a rose is a rose, but a Titan Arum is a whole other thing!

Plants, as well as animals, typically evolve certain characteristics as survival mechanisms. That certainly seems to be the case for the Titan, which has to depend on the kindness of strangers for its survival.

Titan Arums belong to an old respectable family, the aroid family or Araceae. We encourage some of its better-known relatives to grow in our gardens: the Calla Lily, Peace Lily, Philodendron, and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

The Titan’s “flower,” however is very different. It is actually many small flowers in one structure, termed an inflorescence and it is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world.

The plant has separate male and female flowers. The female flowers open the first day of bloom and the males open on the second day, preventing self-pollination. Titans are uncommon in cultivation and blooms are rarer still.

Lineage

Our Titan Arum seeds were obtained from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its parent is “Big Bucky,” which bloomed in June 2001. “Big Bucky” had been hand-pollinated with pollen preserved from a May 2001-bloom, named “Mr. Magnificent,” at the Marie Selby Botanical Garden.

For proud Buckeyes, it should be noted that Ohio State and Wisconsin are the only two "Big Ten" Universities to have the distinction of growing and blooming Titans. Also, Ohio State is one of only 19 academic institutions in the U.S. to ever grow and bloom a Titan.

In 1878, the Italian natural scientist Odoardo Beccari discovered the Titan Arum during his exploration of Sumatra. Beccari collected seeds and sent them to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, where he had once studied. Beccari was a contemporary of Charles Darwin; it is possible that they may have crossed paths during his time in England. The first bloom of this species in cultivation occurred at Kew in 1889.

The first Titan to bloom in the United States was at the New York Botanical Garden in 1937.

So, why DO we get excited at the blooming of a Titan?

All of the above is reason enough. But just maybe, there’s a bit more. Is it because we can feel a kindred spirit with a plant that persists against all odds—and oddities in a not always friendly universe?