Published by Daniel Mosquin on September 23, 2009
This ethereal-looking plant is quite typical of lowland plants growing in the tropical and subtropical zones of the paleotropics, from West Africa to the Pacific Islands. Reaching heights of 30 cm, this spectacular plant is a famine food for the Wolof people but requires special preparation as the toxicity level of the tuber is such […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on January 26, 2009
Amorphophallus titanum is incredible — its amazing size and equally breathtaking smell have earned it celebrity status in the plant world. The genus name Amorphophallus is derived from Greek and means “shapeless or deformed phallus”, and the species name titanum means “extremely large”.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on May 6, 2007
Excluding economically-vital plants, I suspect titan arum receives the most minutes of airtime and most inches / centimeters of newsprint than any other species of plant. Considering its impressiveness as the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world and the fact it can be cultivated (unlike the largest flower), it is perhaps no surprise that it […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on May 2, 2007
Almost every year I photograph the reliable and intriguing woodland plant Arisaema sikokianum–a few older photographs can be seen here. Its common names are generally a reflection of its Japanese origin: Japanese Jack-in-the-pulpit and, more romantically, snow rice-cake plant (link to Paghat’s site with gardening information). It is also known as gaudy jack.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on July 8, 2006
Like the Zantedeschia rehmannii posted a couple days ago, Arisaema ciliatum is an aroid – a member of the family Araceae. The resemblance of the two species should be readily apparent. However, Zantedeschia is restricted to Africa, while the genus Arisaema can be found in Africa, North America (including Mexico) and temperate Asia. By far, […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on October 2, 2005
I know this isn’t the most impressive plant visually. In fact, it’s not much taller than 15cm (six inches). However, by placing it in context, I hope you’ll develop an appreciation for it.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on September 7, 2005
I’ve dipped into the archives for today’s photograph. The original out-of-camera image is here, and if you compare the two (ignoring the tighter crop of this image), you’ll note that this image is sharper and cleaner. I ran it through some of the digital processing tools I now use to see if it could be […]
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