The smelly 'lizard-tail'

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Amorphophallus saururus, the 'lizard-tail' (from the Greek 'sauros' which means 'lizard', and 'oura', meaning 'tail') again decided to throw out a bloom. I noticed it coming up last week, but initially thought the inflorescence to be an upcoming new leaf. The last time a saururus 'flowered' for me was... let's see... around July 12, 2016. So that's three years. With Amorphophallus you kinda expect such infrequent and unpredictable blooming, but I guess it's one of the more enthralling facets of the species in this genus. Apart from the stink. Like many of its brethren, A. saururus emits a scent that is disrespectful to the olfactory senses. Think of a carcass that's left in the sewer to fester. But to be fair, the scent isn't that too powerful, and you have to be about 30 cm away from the plant to catch a whiff of its exquisite aroma.


And yet, one really wouldn't mind an A. saururus without them blooms; the foliage sufficiently compensates, for this species is one of those few that have dark and glossy leaflets thinly edged with red. Two more Amorphophallus species that exhibit such appearance are A. atropurpureus and A. operculatus.

Amorphophallus saururus is very easy to maintain, requiring some direct sun to develop that iridescent sheen on the leaf, and is not prone to rot as some of the species are. Since last year I have been successful in propagating this species and have already distributed quite a few here in the Philippines. And speaking of propagation, I may have an opportunity to do something fancy this year. Because fortuitously, two of my A. urceolatus will have their spathes open very soon. So once this A. saururus begins shedding pollen, then it's paintbrush time 😉


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