"French Record!": The "Titan's Penis" has begun to bloom in Nancy and is already 2.16m tall

The flowering of the "Titan's penis" has begun! A new flowering of this plant, Amorphophallus titanum by its scientific name and "Titan's Penis" by its nickname, is underway at the Jean-Marie Pelt botanical garden, in Villers-lès-Nancy, in Meurthe-et-Moselle. This is its second bloom in two years , a phenomenon that is nevertheless considered extremely rare. Normally, this species only flowers every 7 to 10 years. This plant has been nicknamed "Tintin".

"French record for Tintin, which is already the largest Titan Arum seen in France, with a height of 2.09 m!", the garden already congratulated itself on its social networks this Tuesday.

"It is already the largest Titan Arum seen in France, with a height of 2.09m and it will continue to grow until it blooms," the garden boasted. A figure in fact revised to 2.16m, this Thursday according to data published by the botanical garden on its website.

Now that the flower has opened, it gives off a foul odor that has earned it the nickname "corpse flower." This odor is explained by its reproductive mechanism. To ensure its offspring, it releases the scent of rotting, rotting meat to attract pollinating insects.

This species, native to the tropical forests of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, is threatened with extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature . They deplore that "its population in the wild is declining," in particular because its rare flowering automatically leads to rare reproduction. "Moreover, the myth that Titan Arum is a predator for humans is leading to the destruction of the species," the scientists lament.