Subject: <HELP> info needed on strange plant/bulb

From: [email-masked] (Glenn Gawron)
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 08:48:20

Last year, my grandmother gave me a bunch of bulbs that she 
called "stink lillies".  She gave me an article that describes 
the plant as :

"The voodoo plant or Sacred Lily of India as it sometimes is called, is 
seldom obtainable except from someone who got it from someone, etc., willing 
to share some offshoots from the bulb from which this strange plant grows. "

"The voodoo plant is a remarkable member of the calla family that will 
bloom without soil, indoors in winter.  A bulb forgotten on the basement 
workbench or on a shelf will send up a tall, purplish brown stem from which 
will emerge a calla-lillylike spathe--a really handsome flower but with an 
almost offending odor"

"After flowering, and when the weather turns warm, the bulb can be planted 
in a shaded, sheltered spot in the garden and here it will suprise you again 
by developing into a plant that resembles a palm tree.  During the summer 
sojurn in the garden, the bulb develops the offshoots for new plants.  
Technically, the plant is known as Ilydrosome rivieri."

I currently have about 50 bulbs the largest of which is 10-12" across.  The 
stem right now is about 4 1/2 feet tall and the flower is an additional 
1 1/2 feet tall.  I have wrapped and taped a plastic bag around the flower 
as it has started to stink.  My questions are :
1.  Will cutting the stem off at the flower hurt the bulb?
2.  Is the plastic bag hurting the plant?
3.  if anyone has any more information on this beautiful plant, I would 
greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks in advance!
-Glenn
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|Glenn Gawron                          | Internet: [email-masked]|
|Motorola Central Systems Engineering  |    X.400: [email-masked]|
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