A bloom with a P.U.

Byline: Nancy Sheehan

It's called amorphophallus and we trust you can figure out why without making us awkwardly s-p-e-l-l it out for you.

The plant in question is blooming now in the Orangerie at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, where it has already garnered a number of fans who have never seen anything like it, at least not around here. If you were to travel to South China, Indonesia or Japan, however, you would see the tall, striking spikes grown in wet meadows. In those countries, the plant's tubers, or thick root-like parts, are made into potato dishes or ground into flour for noodles.

Here in the Northeast, however, amorphophallus konjac (its full name) is a rare sight indeed. Our Tower Hill specimen is blooming for the first time in nine years. "It has finally reached blooming size," said Joann Vieira, horticulture director at Tower Hill. When will it bloom again? "I think it sort of takes a while to regenerate itself so it might not bloom every year," she said. "We'll find out."

Meanwhile admirers, alerted by an e-mail blast to Tower Hill members, have been gathering round the oddity since it bloomed Tuesday in spite of the fact that it emits a scent reminiscent of rotting flesh. Ah, but what is repulsive to us is attractive to flies, which pollinate the plant, and amorphophallus is designed to attract them rather than human groupies who actually are fairly useless to its botanical mission.

Its uses to us are many, however, including the previously mentioned food items and, ironically, as a diet aid because of the ground plant's ability to swell when mixed with water, which allows it to fill the stomach. The resulting gelatinous mass then inches its way through the digestive system, tricking the appetite into a sense of satisfaction.

Amorphophallus's much smaller temperate-zone cousin is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Please just tell us you aren't even thinking of picking and eating these because they are POISONOUS). The plant also is known as the voodoo lily and devil's tongue.

An amorphophallus by any name is a fascinating thing to Heather Kasperzak of Shrewsbury, who stopped in at Tower Hill to admire the stunning, 4-1/2-foot-tall specimen last week. "I think it's fascinating," she said. "I think it's absolutely, well, I don't know `gorgeous' is the word, but it's certainly unique and exotic. It's quite a treat to see something like that here."

And what about it's, ahem, distinctive perfume?

"Actually, it doesn't smell as bad as I thought," she said. "I think you adapt to it once you walk in here. It does hit you when you first walk in, though."

Tower Hill horticulturists are hoping the plant will remain in bloom at least through today.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: John Trexler, executive director of Tower Hill Botanic Garden, takes a whiff from the amorphophallus.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/DAN GOULD