Darth Vapor is 18 years old. The mother plant was pollinated in 2002, fruits were harvested and seeds were germinated a year later in 2003. This is its first time blooming since it just reached a mature age.

The name was selected through an online poll. Thank you to everyone who voted!

The weight of the corm, which is located inside the pot, is approximately 30 to 40 pounds.

Commonly referred to as the world’s largest “flower,” the corpse flower is really a cluster of flowers. Hundreds of tiny flowers are hidden at the base of the spadix. These flowers—in separate zones of male and female flowers—are where pollination occurs and where fruit and seeds develop. The plants in nature do not fertilize themselves; the female flowers open first and are only receptive for a short time, after which the male flowers produce pollen. This ensures crosspollination (i.e., from pollen carried by insects from another corpse flower blooming nearby) and prevents inbreeding.

The plant grows from a large corm, a bulb-like tuber, under the soil. The parts of the plant you can see are the spadix (the fleshy upright column) and the spathe (the petal-like outer covering). When the plant blooms, the spathe opens for "show and stink," revealing a velvety, maroon-colored interior and releasing its odor. The smell is strongest at night around midnight. At the peak of its growth, the corpse flower can grow up to six inches a day.

The entire flower will have two main colors. The spadix, the center structure, will be olive green. The inner portion of the spathe will be of a maroon color with a velvet-like appearance. The actual flowers which are located at the base of the flower will also share similar colors. On the top, the male flowers are white/yellow while the female flowers are at the bottom and red in color.
 

When a corpse flower blooms, it comes straight out of the soil from the underground corm, looking like a giant bud without any foliage. When it isn’t in bloom, the plant produces a single, giant leaf, which can last longer than a year before it dies away. You might not recognize it as a leaf, however, because it's about 12 feet tall! The leaf features a smooth stalk topped with a canopy of leaflets, so it looks like a slender, green palm tree. The trunk-like stem is covered with spots resembling lichens, which may help camouflage the plant. Several corpse flowers are planted inside The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science at The Huntington. Many others are cared for in the greenhouses.

In its natural environment, the corpse flower is pollinated by carrion beetles, sweat bees, and flesh flies. It attracts those insects by releasing some serious stink! The strong smell can travel long distances in the corpse flower’s native tropical forests. Insects can pick up the scent in time to pollinate the flowers during their short bloom period. Two chemical compounds contributing to the scent are dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide.

Darth Vapor bloomed August 11-August 12, 2021. Relive the bloom on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).

Mature plants produce a flower only once every four to six years and bloom for up to 36 hours. After blooming, the flower will wither away, but the plant will go through a period of dormancy before emerging once again as either a leaf or a flower.

While Amorphophallus titanum is very rare, many similar (but much smaller) plants can be found growing in home gardens. One of these is Amorphophallus konjac (syn. A. rivieri), which grows to a height of about four feet and smells nearly as bad as its larger cousin. Two other related plants are the dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), which grows to about two to three feet in height, and the voodoo lily (Sauromatum venosum), which grows to 12 to 18 inches tall. Calla lilies, anthuriums, and philodendrons are also members of the aroid family.

In the summer of 1999, The Huntington was the focus of world-wide attention when it exhibited the first Amorphophallus titanum ever to flower in California. It was only the 11th recorded bloom of one of these plants in the United States. During the brief bloom, Huntington botanists hand-pollinated the plant with its own pollen, using an experimental technique (self-pollination is normally impossible). The procedure was a success, resulting in fruit and 10 fertile seeds from which several seedlings eventually were produced. Today, after a number of other successful flowerings and cross-pollinations, there are several generations of “Little Stinkers” in the botanical greenhouses, waiting for their moment to bloom.

Yes. The blooming of a rare plant like Amorphophallus titanum provides The Huntington with an opportunity to pursue three of its most important missions: research, education, and conservation. With each flowering, botanists learn more about this unusual plant, while The Huntington shares with its visitors not only some fascinating new facts, but also an increased appreciation for the wonder and diversity of the plant kingdom. Through ongoing conservation efforts, The Huntington helps to protect rare and endangered plants from extinction. The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science showcases many amazing plants from around the world, including Amorphophallus titanum, with interactive exhibits for visitors that encourage curiosity and discovery.

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