As a supplement to Alley Rat’s upcoming post on Kerner’s She Comes First, I offer a post about a tongue. A plant’s “tongue”, that is.
Yesterday, a specimen of Hydrosome rivieri, one of a a class of plants commonly referred to as the “Devil’s Tongue”, bloomed here at one of the greenhouses on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. I didn’t get a chance to experience the smell, which is described as that of rotting flesh, but I was able to take a few pictures. The strategy behind the odor is to attract pollinators. (You can find information on a related species, Amorphophallus titanum, here, and pictures of this much larger plant can be found here.)
The Hydrosome rivieri pictured here is in its second day of full bloom, and I hear it does this on an annual basis. I have more pictures to share for those who are interested. Just email me.
I also thought this would also be a good post to contribute to National Poetry Month. I’m not a poet, but I like to think that I know what I like. Here’s one of my favorites from E. E. Cummings. Consider this a supplement to a supplement.
if within tonight’s erect
everywhere of black muscles fools
a weightless slowness(deftlymuting the world’s texture with drifted
gifts of featheriest slenderness and
how gradually which sescending are suddenly
received)or by doomfull connivanceaccurately thither and hither myself
struts unremembered(rememberingly
with in both pockets curled hands moves)
why then toward morning he is a ghost whomassault these whispering fists of hail
(and a few windows awaken certain faces
busily horribly blunder through new light
hush we are made of the same thing as perhapsnothing,he murmurs carefully lying down)
[Note: This is poem XVI from Part Four of Is 5.]
I guess I’ll modestly introduce myself here. I’m Ryan of Imposter Syndrome. I live in Bloomington, IN, which is just proof positive that I’m drawn to liberal oases. Check out my blog for even nerdier discussions.
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- I knew I should’ve made that left turn at Albuquerque by Linnaeus December 17, 2007
- Thanks by Ashley July 6, 2008
- Will the Last One Out of ***** Please Shut Out the Lights?! by La Lubu September 15, 2009
i already told you this, but i wanted to say it publicly -i love this post.
Thanks, again, Alley. It was fun putting it together. I’m not so sure how well the Cummings poem fits in, but he throws the word “erect” at you right at the start, so I couldn’t help myself.
A funny thing about the genus name Amorphophallus is that it litterally means “shapeless phallus”. Maybe if we could see a bunch of these plants lined up next to each other, all in full bloom, it would be more obvious as to why it was named that. Eh….does anyone know?
Here’s a video of one of these things in bloom, among other flowers on the page (mess with the URL to get to the proper frames). I love these videos because it often looks like the flowers are dancing.
Thanks, Lauren. I kind of regret missing the stench. I read at one of the sites I linked to above (I think) that the smell released by a titan reminds central Asians of a rotting elephant. But the one in my picture is more on the order of a cat. (Sorry, cat people.)