See Spike Chicago Botanic Garden

Illustration of a green, purple and yellow flower with black text on a white background

Spike is the name of the Chicago Botanic Garden's titan arum plant, more commonly known as a corpse flower. This type of flower, which is the largest unbranched inflorescent plant in the world and can grow up to 12 feet tall, was first discovered by Odoardo Beccari in Sumatra in 1878. The Chicago Botanic Garden acquired the plant in 2003 in seed form, and Spike was the first of the seeds to bloom. The plant has a blog dedicated to it to document the rare times when it blooms or is being pollinated, and every year thousands of visitors visit Spike, which continues to thrive.

(n.d.). About Spike. Retrieved from: http://www.chicagobotanic.org/titan_arum_corpse_flower

Amorphophallus Titanum. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum

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