City and County of Honolulu News

You are here:  Main / Customer Services / Public Communications Division / 2014 / 04/08/14 Rare and unusual plant set to bloom around mid-April

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 Contact: Scot Mitamura, 532-1250   Rare and unusual plant set to bloom around mid-April     Honolulu – Foster Botanical Garden announced today that another of its Amorphophallus titanum, an endangered species native to Sumatra, Indonesia, is anticipated to bloom in the next two weeks.  This short lived flower only blooms once every 3 to 5 years. The plant is at Foster Botanical Garden's Orchid Conservatory.   The Amorphophallus titanum is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom.  Contributing to this plant's exotic allure is its pungent odor of rotting flesh, which serves to attract the carrion beetles that pollinate the flower.   Foster Botanical Garden, at 50 North Vineyard Boulevard, is located in busy downtown Honolulu and is the oldest of the city's botanical gardens.  The garden displays a mature and impressive collection of tropical plants. Some of the magnificent trees in this 14-acre garden were planted in the 1850s by Dr. William Hillebrand.  The garden also includes a palm collection, the Lyon Orchid Garden, hybrid orchid display, the Prehistoric Glen, and a gift shop.   There are five distinct gardens forming Honolulu's unique botanical garden system: Foster Botanical Garden, Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Lili'uokalani Botanical Garden, and Wahiawa Botanical Garden.  The five gardens, located in different ecological settings on Oahu, offer visitors year-round opportunities to explore unique and diverse plant collections.   Garden admission is free, except at Foster Botanical Garden.  Cost for admission at Foster Garden is: $5.00 - general, 13 years and older; $3.00 - Hawaii resident 13 years and older with ID; $1.00 - child 6 to 12 years old; free - child 5 years old and under (must be accompanied by an adult).  Foster Botanical Garden is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily, except for Christmas and New Year's Day.  Please call 522-7066 for more information on Foster Botanical Garden.   Please "like" Foster Botanical Garden or Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Facebook or follow Mayor Caldwell on twitter (@MayorKirkHNL) to find out when the Amorphophallus titanum blooms.   -END-