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It can be up to five feet tall, and it smells like rotten meat. Oddly enough, we are not describing any movie monster, but a plant just discovered in Madagascar by a botanist at the University of Utah.
The species has been called Amorphophallus perrieri and belongs to a group of plants characteristic for its large size and, above all, for its foul odor. According to its discoverer, Greg Wahlert, the flower “smells like a run over animal that has been decomposing for several hours in the sun. I would say it is a mixture of carrion and feces, it is really disgusting and disgusting.”
What is the reason for this foul smell? It is a strategy to attract pollinating insects. Some of these plants also give off heat for this purpose, and the bell shape of their flowers makes it easier for animals to access the stamens that contain pollen. The best known plant of this group is the so-called “titanic amorphous phallus” ( Amorphophallus titanum ), an older sister of the newly discovered species, which can grow to 6 meters in height and has flowers of more than 2 meters.
Amorphophallus perrieri was collected on two islands northwest of Madagascar that are highly threatened by deforestation. For Wahlert, “it is important to continue describing species, especially in Madagascar, which is one of the areas with the most diversity on the entire planet.” The author is now working on a scientific article where he describes all the details of the new species.
