Plant of the Month: Pseudohydrosme
Pseudohydrosme gabunensis, the Huntington Gardens, California (credit: Riled Up Journal)
Many folks may know about the famous "corpse flower" or Titan Arum a bulbous plant originally from Sumatra that produces a putrid smell to attract pollinators when blooming. Titan bulbs are grown in botanical gardens and horticultural institutions around the world. However, few people have ever heard of a related species, Pseudohydrosme gabunensis from Africa.
Pseudohydrosme and Titan arums are both members of the large family of tropical plants, the Araceae, commonly called aroids. The International Aroid Society offers an interesting description of this rare and virtually unknown plant from Gabon in West Africa.
This rare aroid was photographed while blooming in the 'off-limits', botanical research greenhouses at the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena, California. It is a worthy Plant of the Month even with it a scientific name that is hard to pronounce.
WHB