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    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

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    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

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    Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

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    Sleepy Cactus introduces game day dinner events 

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    STEM students revive academic journal club

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    UM launches creative writing program

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    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

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    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

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    Can’t find a parking spot? Here’s why

    Reduce, reuse, recycle with RebelTHON

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  • Sports
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    • Game Recap
    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

    Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

    Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

    Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

    Ole Miss fails to live up to hype, loses to Bama on the road

    Ole Miss fails to live up to hype, loses to Bama on the road

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    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

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    Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

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    Sleepy Cactus introduces game day dinner events 

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    STEM students revive academic journal club

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Ole Miss’ third corpse flower blooms on campus

Jake ThrasherbyJake Thrasher
June 17, 2018
Reading Time: 2 mins read

Over the weekend, a smell most accurately described as rotting flesh seeped into the atrium of the Thad Cochran Research Center. The smell came from a six-foot-tall plant that bloomed Saturday morning.

The Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum), known as the corpse flower due its unique scent, is one of the largest unbranched flowering plants in the world. This plant only blooms once every 7-10 years, and while bloomed, it produces a foul odor in order to attract pollinators. Native to Sumatra and Indonesia, some of these plants can grow up to ten feet tall.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

The size and smell of the corpse flower attracted many people to the Thad Cochran Research center over the weekend, where they were able to learn about the plant from research botanist Lal Jayaratna.

“I think the Oxford people are very lucky to see this flower because this is the only place around where they can see it,” Jayaratna said.

The Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden started growing corpse flowers from seeds about a decade ago.

“At the Quimby garden, we do have a collection of medicinal plants from different parts of the world and we are part of a seed exchange program,” said Ikhlas Khan, director of the National Center for Natural Product Research.

The first corpse plant bloomed in the Quimby garden in May 2014, followed closely by a second one blooming that June. This corpse flower is only the third one to bloom on campus.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

Jayaratna said he tried to fertilize the titan arum that bloomed in June with pollen from the one that bloomed in May, but the fertilization was unsuccessful. Jayaratna plans to try to self-pollinate the titan arum that bloomed over the weekend.

“The flower blooms to get pollen from another plant, so it has a special mechanism to avoid self-pollination,” he said.

He said the corpse flower is not one big flower, but a plant that has a cluster of small flowers at the base of the cone-shaped torch of the plant. In order to avoid self-pollination, the titan arum has a ring of male and female flowers. These bands of flowers mature at different times so that the pollen from the male flowers do not usually fertilize the female flowers.

Jayaranta said he hopes to to get around this protection mechanism to have the first successful fertilization of an Amorphophallus titanum in Oxford.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

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Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

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Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

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1 day ago

Ole Miss’ third corpse flower blooms on campus

Jake ThrasherbyJake Thrasher
June 17, 2018
Reading Time: 2 mins read

Over the weekend, a smell most accurately described as rotting flesh seeped into the atrium of the Thad Cochran Research Center. The smell came from a six-foot-tall plant that bloomed Saturday morning.

The Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum), known as the corpse flower due its unique scent, is one of the largest unbranched flowering plants in the world. This plant only blooms once every 7-10 years, and while bloomed, it produces a foul odor in order to attract pollinators. Native to Sumatra and Indonesia, some of these plants can grow up to ten feet tall.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

The size and smell of the corpse flower attracted many people to the Thad Cochran Research center over the weekend, where they were able to learn about the plant from research botanist Lal Jayaratna.

“I think the Oxford people are very lucky to see this flower because this is the only place around where they can see it,” Jayaratna said.

The Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden started growing corpse flowers from seeds about a decade ago.

“At the Quimby garden, we do have a collection of medicinal plants from different parts of the world and we are part of a seed exchange program,” said Ikhlas Khan, director of the National Center for Natural Product Research.

The first corpse plant bloomed in the Quimby garden in May 2014, followed closely by a second one blooming that June. This corpse flower is only the third one to bloom on campus.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

Jayaratna said he tried to fertilize the titan arum that bloomed in June with pollen from the one that bloomed in May, but the fertilization was unsuccessful. Jayaratna plans to try to self-pollinate the titan arum that bloomed over the weekend.

“The flower blooms to get pollen from another plant, so it has a special mechanism to avoid self-pollination,” he said.

He said the corpse flower is not one big flower, but a plant that has a cluster of small flowers at the base of the cone-shaped torch of the plant. In order to avoid self-pollination, the titan arum has a ring of male and female flowers. These bands of flowers mature at different times so that the pollen from the male flowers do not usually fertilize the female flowers.

Jayaranta said he hopes to to get around this protection mechanism to have the first successful fertilization of an Amorphophallus titanum in Oxford.

The Thad Cochran Research Center displays their blooming corpse flower. The Titan arum blooms only once every 7-10 years and smells like a rotting corpse. Photo by Christian Johnson

In Case You Missed It

Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

1 day ago
Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

1 day ago
Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

1 day ago
UM launches creative writing program

UM launches creative writing program

1 day ago
Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

1 day ago
Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

1 day ago

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