Follow the blooming of the Corpseflower. The Titan opened about halfway during the course of the morning and afternoon yesterday, giving off stronger waves of odor as the day progressed. The peak odor and opening was in the early evening and by 10PM the pulses of odor became less strong. The daily progress of the Amorphophallus Titanum.
posted by jokeefe on Jul 7, 2004 - 7 comments

Smithsonian Catalog of Botanical Illustrations Feel the need for a touch of spring? The Smithsonian offers five hundred images (created by eleven artists) from its vast collection of botanical illustrations. Check out the images in the Curtis Botanical Magazine (1787-1807). For more wide-ranging overviews, try the Scientific Illustrators (1600-present); the Missouri Botanical Garden Library (digitized copies of 46 rare books); this special exhibition at the University of Delaware (general survey); and Haley & Steele (women artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). Julene Sodt provides an extensive bibliography.
posted by thomas j wise on Mar 8, 2004 - 2 comments

Emergent computation: Plants seem to do it! Does that mean we do three? [more here :]
posted by kliuless on Jan 21, 2004 - 7 comments

The Missouri Botanical Garden Library has scanned and posted 46 volumes of its rare book collection. 16,133 pages and 2,050 beautiful illustrations are currently available.
As an example, see this engraving of a foxglove by Pierre Vallet from 1608.
posted by thatwhichfalls on Dec 22, 2003 - 7 comments

'Superweeds' signal setback for genetically modified crops.
posted by thedailygrowl on Jun 25, 2003 - 22 comments

Paghat The Ratgirl (google cache) is one of the more interesting people that I have encountered on the Internet. A frequent poster to the newsgroup rec.gardens, her gardening site is an interesting mix of plant history and folklore, lovely images and a darn good place to get ideas on what to add to the yard next. She frequently posts to many other newsgroups as well and a quick google search or two turns up thousands of messages by paghat, her detractors and her fans. She even has a gift shop.
posted by bargle on Jun 12, 2003 - 7 comments

Say it with Amorphophallus titanum!

Looking for that special way to tell your loved one how much you care? Express your true feelings with the unforgettable aroma of a "rotting elephant corpse".
posted by groundhog on Oct 10, 2001 - 7 comments

What's 95 inches tall, purple, and stinks like rotten meat? Why, it's Amorphophallus titanum, the world's largest flower. One of them is about to bloom at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Botany, and the link will take you to a webcam waiting for it to bloom. One bloomed at Kew Gardens in the UK a couple of years ago to much fanfare, and there are only a dozen or so "in captivity".
posted by briank on Jun 5, 2001 - 17 comments