Amorphophallus titanum

(Becc.) Becc. · species

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Plantae/Tracheophyta/Liliopsida/Alismatales/Araceae/Amorphophallus

At a glance

Occurrence records88

Data sources13

Biological traits9

DNA specimens4

eDNA detections4

Sources13 archives

Databases and archives Amorphophallus titanum's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation19 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility88 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI4 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics4 specimens↗

LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗

GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗

GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗

NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗

PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype

WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗

On this page7 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements3 literature sources9 traits

Chemical compositionLOTUS2 compounds

Occurrence & distributionGBIF88 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 0 countries4 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD4 specimens

Genome at a glanceCCDB · GoaT · NCBI≈943 Mbp

01Narrative

Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum, is a flowering plant in the family Araceae. It has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The inflorescence of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, is larger, but it is branched rather than unbranched. A. titanum is endemic to Sumatra. Due to its odor, like that of a rotting corpse, the titan arum is characterized as a carrion flower, and is also known as the corpse flower or corpse plant (—bunga means flower, while bangkai can be translated as corpse, cadaver, or carrion). The titan arum's berries arrange in a regular cylindrical form that resembles the packing of spheres inside a cylindrical confinement. Those structures are also called columnar structures or crystals.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesWCVPTRYGIFT

Life cycle & reproduction2

Life formtuberous geophyte

Raunkiær life formcryptophyte

Diet & foraging1

Parasiteindependent

Habitat & environment5

Climatewet tropical

Climberself-supporting

Epiphyteterrestrial

Growth formherb

Woodinessnon-woody

Other traits1

Plant support typefree-standing

03Chemical composition2 compounds

Compounds documented for Amorphophallus titanum across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").

Documented compounds2 total

Tissue Source Quantified only

Compound	Class	Amount	Source
Dimethyl disulfide		present	LOTUS
Dimethyl trisulfide		present	LOTUS

05DNA & barcoding4 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Amorphophallus titanum has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens4

Marker genes2

eDNA detections4

Marker genes sequenced

★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.

★matK★rbcL

plant barcode

06Genome at a glanceCCDB · GoaT · NCBI

The complete instruction manual Amorphophallus titanum carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Genome size≈942 822 506 bp assembly estimate

Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).

BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb

FUNGUS0.04 Gb

INSECT0.25 Gb

THIS GENOME Amorphophallus titanum0.94 Gb

HUMAN3.2 Gb

WHEAT17 Gb

FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb

Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged

2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.

Chromosomes2n = 26 n = 13

Ploidydiploid inferred

Chromosome records26–262n range26median26mode8records

Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references

2n 268×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 · CCDB · araceae +2

CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Giordano, C. 1999. Karyological and palynological observations on Amorphophallus titanum (Becc.) Becc. ex Arcangeli (Araceae). Caryologia 52: 65–73.

CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Ishida, G. 2004. Karyomorphological observations on some aroids cultivated in the Hiroshima Botanical Garden II. Bull. Hiroshima Bot. Gard. 21: 7–30.

CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 — MARCHANT, C.J. 1971. Chromosome variation in the Araceae III. Kew Bull. 25: 323-329.

CCDB · araceae — Giordano, C. 1999

CCDB · araceae — Petersen, 1989

CCDB · book-fedorov — Chandler C.1943

CCDB · book-fedorov — Tjio 1948

CCDB · book-atlas-flowering-plants — Tjio 1948

n 133×CCDB · araceae · CCDB · Cave1956

CCDB · araceae — Giordano, C. 1999

CCDB · araceae — Petersen, 1989

CCDB · Cave1956 — Olah

Ploidy records — measured levels and diploid/polyploid inferences · click for sources

diploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale

PloiDB · genus-scale — chromEvol; reliability=1.000 ↗

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.

Assembly levelScaffold

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type88 records

Wild obs. + sensor49

Museum / vouchered39

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO224 km²

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy15% within 1 km

≤100 m 2≤1 km 5>10 km 40

47 georeferenced · 2 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor49

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km

≤100 m 1≤1 km 11

12 georeferenced · 27 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence39

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions5 of 7 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record	11
Denver, US	4
South Kensington, GB	4
Bronx, US	3
Minia, EG	3
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record	2
Knoxville, US	1

7 institutions · 28 of 39 vouchered records shown · 11 without an institution code

09Environmental DNA4 detections

Where the DNA of Amorphophallus titanum was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found4

Studies independent surveys1

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 4 detections have coordinates

Open the map0 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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