During the past 4 days, the
Cockrell Butterfly Center at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science has stayed open 24 hours to accommodate the
record crowds filing into the museum at all hours. Why? A rare
Amorphophallus titanium, aka
“Corpse Flower,” named
Lois is
finally about to bloom. Now, Lois is
not your average, run-of-the-mill
stinky plant.
Only 28 Corpse Flowers have bloomed in the US, so Lois has become a
local celebrity with
her own blog,
Flickr feed,
live webcam and
cupcakes. She even has
her own playlist, with songs such as “That Smell” by Lynyrd Skynrd, “I’m Comin’ Out” by Diana Ross and the classic “Smelly Cat” by Phoebe from Friends. And like any trendy Corpse Flower, Lois also has
her own Twitter account. She's also a
bit of a diva. Yet despite predictions, Lois
still hasn't bloomed as of Wednesday morning. In response, Lois
makes excuses,
bad jokes,
complaints and
snarky comments.
posted by yeoja
on Jul 14, 2010 -
30 comments
They are members of the
olive family, among the
earliest flowering plants imported to the United States. Planted near the front doors of flat, bare early Colonial house facades, they helped to create "
dooryard gardens," which softened and brought beauty to a rough-hewn early America.
Jefferson planted them; at Monticello, some of those bushes still bloom.. They gave
Pan his pipes. They are employed as evocative symbols in
American literature,
song,
and poetry, where they symbolize the
sensuousness of love in its earliest stages.
Festivals celebrate their
blooming, and
NOAA tracks the earliest leaves and flowers for evidence of climate change. The inability to smell it may be an
early indication of Alzheimer's disease. No wonder people like to
steal them.
posted by Miko
on May 23, 2008 -
31 comments
The orchid, I think is the most beautiful variety of flower. If not for my black thumb I'd gladly devote some time to growing this gorgeous flowers. The main link is to the Internet Orchid Photo Encyclopedia. There's apparently a cultural phenomena involving orchids that even includes tails of
theft. A case of Nicaraguan theft has even been likened to
rape. NOVA has done an
episode on it, which sadly I haven't seen. They're an amazingly diverse species.
posted by substrate
on May 15, 2004 -
11 comments
Katinka Matson's scanned flower art : technology lets the flowers speak. "...imagine a painter who could, like Vermeer, capture the quality of light that a camera can, but with the color of paints. That is what a scanner gives you.... In her flowers one can see every microscopic dew drop, leaf vein, and particle of pollen—in satisfying rich pigmented color....." (scroll down for images)
posted by troutfishing
on Jun 24, 2003 -
16 comments
