Titan arum

History

The titan arum originates in the moist shaded rainforests of Sumatra. The first European botanist to encounter it was the Italian, Odoardo Beccari, who was travelling in the region in 1878. He sent back seeds to his patron in Italy and one of the young plants that germinated from them was subsequently dispatched to Kew, where it flowered in 1889, exciting great public interest. In 1926, when it flowered again, the crowds attracted by the phenomenon were so large that the police were called to control them.

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