I've got an arum lily flowering in my garden. I'm not sure of the
variety: I bought it years ago from a local alpine(!) show. It's
definitely not an A. italicum as I have some of those.

Anyway, I don't know whether it's the warm weather, or what, but this
thing is flowering profusely, and stinks to high heaven. Unfortunately
I have it planted too close to my outside picnic area, and this thing
is so bad that it's going to be a case of either digging it up, moving
our patio, or moving house (not that anyone would buy it at the moment
with that smell around). Until I discovered what it was (way too close
a sniff, with hindsight) I was thinking we had a problem with our
drains, or that I had a dead rat festering somewhere. It smells
totally disgusting (though looks rather nice!)

Does anyone know what the species is?

And hello again to anyone who knows me, I've not urg-led in a very
long time!

Debbie

This following a quick search for "arum", "lily" and "rotting" on Google:

The dead horse arum lily, Helicodiceros muscivorus, is a rather attractive
brown flower found on Corsica and other small islands in the Mediterranean.
The flower opens for two days, on the first of which it releases an
extremely foul odour reminiscent of rotting meat.

Lovely.

HTH

Jo

Debbie wrote in message
om...
I've got an arum lily flowering in my garden. I'm not sure of the
variety: I bought it years ago from a local alpine(!) show. It's
definitely not an A. italicum as I have some of those.

Anyway, I don't know whether it's the warm weather, or what, but this
thing is flowering profusely, and stinks to high heaven. Unfortunately
I have it planted too close to my outside picnic area, and this thing
is so bad that it's going to be a case of either digging it up, moving
our patio, or moving house (not that anyone would buy it at the moment
with that smell around). Until I discovered what it was (way too close
a sniff, with hindsight) I was thinking we had a problem with our
drains, or that I had a dead rat festering somewhere. It smells
totally disgusting (though looks rather nice!)

Does anyone know what the species is?

And hello again to anyone who knows me, I've not urg-led in a very
long time!

Debbie

in article , Debbie at
wrote on 1/6/03 2:57 pm:

I've got an arum lily flowering in my garden. I'm not sure of the
variety: I bought it years ago from a local alpine(!) show. It's
definitely not an A. italicum as I have some of those.

Anyway, I don't know whether it's the warm weather, or what, but this
thing is flowering profusely, and stinks to high heaven.
snip
Does anyone know what the species is?
snip

Sounds like some kind of Lysichiton aka skunk cabbage.
--

Sacha

Debbie,

In trying to sell your house you might be trying to flog a dead horse but
another plant which really can stink of drains is broom which stays in
flower for weeks!

Ron

On Sun, 01 Jun 2003 16:44:43 +0100, Sacha wrote:

in article , Debbie at
wrote on 1/6/03 2:57 pm:

I've got an arum lily flowering in my garden. I'm not sure of the
variety: I bought it years ago from a local alpine(!) show. It's
definitely not an A. italicum as I have some of those.

Anyway, I don't know whether it's the warm weather, or what, but this
thing is flowering profusely, and stinks to high heaven.
snip
Does anyone know what the species is?
snip

Sounds like some kind of Lysichiton aka skunk cabbage.

Don't diss the skunk cabbage. It has a fine refreshing smell,
just like...well, skunk at a distance. Nothing like as bad as
those aroids with the scent of decaying flesh. And the flowers
are a bright cheerful yellow in the otherwise dreary landscape of
early spring.

Myself, I grow Arum dioscorides. When it's in flower, it smells
like a compost heap that's gone to the dark side in a Truly
Serious Way.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

"Jo Ling" wrote in message ...
This following a quick search for "arum", "lily" and "rotting" on Google:

The dead horse arum lily, Helicodiceros muscivorus, is a rather attractive
brown flower found on Corsica and other small islands in the Mediterranean.
The flower opens for two days, on the first of which it releases an
extremely foul odour reminiscent of rotting meat.


I did a similar thing myself, but I was in the privileged position of
having seen what I was talking about. The main searches brought back a
titan arum, which it certainly isn't, but my, what an impressive
plant! :-)

It is, in fact, I believe an Arum dioscoridis: pic at the following:

http://www.aroid.org/genera/arum/dioscoridis/

You would simply not believe how completely and utterly disgusting
this plant smells.

Ta anyway,

Debbie

Sacha wrote in message . ..
Sounds like some kind of Lysichiton aka skunk cabbage.

No, definitely not: the leaf is entirely different, but thanks for the
reply anyway :-)

By the way, I recognise your name from ages ago when I was last here,
glad to see you're all still going strong!

Debbie

"Ron" wrote in message ...
Debbie,

In trying to sell your house you might be trying to flog a dead horse but
another plant which really can stink of drains is broom which stays in
flower for weeks!

I don't really want to have to sell my house, honest!
Broom smells like Chanel Number 5 in comparison to this stinker, believe me.

Debbie

The message
from (Rodger Whitlock)
contains these words:

On Sun, 01 Jun 2003 16:44:43 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Sounds like some kind of Lysichiton aka skunk cabbage.

Don't diss the skunk cabbage. It has a fine refreshing smell,
just like...well, skunk at a distance.

Sobs into hanky/gas mask..why didn't this thread appear before I
acquired a couple of skunk cabbages at yesterday's plant swap...

Janet

in article , Janet Baraclough at
wrote on 1/6/03 10:34 pm:

The message
from (Rodger Whitlock)
contains these words:

On Sun, 01 Jun 2003 16:44:43 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Sounds like some kind of Lysichiton aka skunk cabbage.

Don't diss the skunk cabbage. It has a fine refreshing smell,
just like...well, skunk at a distance.

Sobs into hanky/gas mask..why didn't this thread appear before I
acquired a couple of skunk cabbages at yesterday's plant swap...

Janet

He he he. ;-) We saw this growing at Beth Chatto's and I don't recall any
terrible smell. We bought one, too Janet so we'll all suffer olfactory
reactions together! ;-)
However, the one we bought was white and most of the Google images show
yellow or brownish maroon ones, so I'm wondering if that makes a significant
difference.
--

Sacha

You would simply not believe how completely and utterly disgusting
this plant smells.

Oh yes I can. Came down on Saturday morning and the whole house stunk of
sour, rotting fried bacon. Disgusting. I opened up windows, doors and still
the smell was there. I looked around to find the source, and found a voodoo
lily had flowered that night - inside the house. Even the cats wouldn't come
down until the smell had eased off.

The voodoo lily is now outside.

- h

(Rodger Whitlock) wrote in message ...

Myself, I grow Arum dioscorides. When it's in flower, it smells
like a compost heap that's gone to the dark side in a Truly
Serious Way.

Having seen some pics, I'm reasonably confident that is the culprit,
though I've never, ever smelled a compost heap quite that bad, myself.

My plant has flowered befo I remember seeing the seed spike, but I
don't recall it ever being quite so smelly. Maybe it happened while I
was on holiday, or maybe it isn't so bad in cooler weather (it has
been unseasonably hot here of late)?

Debbie