Voodoo Lily: A Sinister Stench and A Five Star Meal of Death!

By Alex Henderson, Curator of Living Collections, Royal Botanical Gardens

Are you interested in botanical curiosities? If so, we have a surprise for you! Three of RBG’s Voodoo Lilies (Amorphophallus konjac) are flowering. Native to Vietnam, Japan, China, and Indonesia, Voodoo Lily is an intriguing plant. Large round tubers can grow up to 50 pounds in weight and a foot in diameter. Each tuber produces a single, intricate leaf consisting of a deeply dissected horizontal blade divided into smaller leaflets giving an umbrella-like appearance. The vertical leaf stalk (petiole) is equally distinctive due to attractive mottled pinkish grey and olive-green markings. Large, purple, single flowers are produced in late winter, can be 55cm long and are produced on a spathe (sheath) enclosed by a spadix containing female flowers in the bottom zone with male flowers in the top zone.

The single most remarkable feature of the flower, however, is the fragrance. Unlike lilacs and roses which have heady and intoxicating fragrances Voodoo Lily is described as smelling like a dead animal or rotting flesh. This begs the question, why would the plant purposefully produce such a malodorous fragrance? In its natural habitat A. konjac is pollinated by carrion flies and beetles and so the flower mimics and releases the exact same compounds that produce the distinct smell of a rotting corpse. Unlike us, the pollinators find the putrid fragrance enticing and irresistible and flock to the flower. Here the flower tricks the pollinators into laying eggs on what they think is a dead body so that the maggots can feed on what they believe is rotting meet. Unfortunately, for the maggots (note to self: one doesn’t write that very often) there is no corpse, and so are totally fooled by the plants sophisticated mimicry into pollinating the flower instead of getting a five-star meal of death.

If you are intrigued by this and wish to experience the full extent of the Voodoo Lily smell, then stick your nose right up to the flower and breath in deeply, cross your fingers and wish yourself good luck as your stomach heaves!  Alternatively, this provides a great people watching activity in enjoying other people’s reactions to the evil whiff. The enormous amount of botanical energy required to produce this sinister stench means the plant has a short flowering window of around 48 hours, at which point the flower wilts and eventually collapses. If this wasn’t enough A. konjac also lends itself to the pop culture plant nerd community due to an interesting selection of common names in addition to Voodoo lily including Devil’s Tongue, Stink Horn and Carrion Flower. These common names place this sinister stinker in the premier league of plant names suitable for Halloween plant lists, exciting interesting and suitably windswept comments during October cocktail parties!

So in conclusion, we have a rare opportunity to witness the flowering of a botanical curiosity that smells like a dead body. And who would want to miss a treat like that! One of the plants is temporarily on display in the Cacti and Succulents collection at RBG Centre, whilst the rest can be viewed in the glass display case adjacent to the Natures Superheroes exhibit.