Blooming stink of rotten meat
QUESTION What’s the largest flower in the world?
RAFFLESIA arnoldi, the giant padma, is a parasitic plant native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. It produces the largest flower in the world which can grow to more than three feet in diameter and weigh more than a stone.
When it blooms, it produces five giant, fleshy, tongue-like petals surrounding a circular central chamber and it emits a powerful smell of rotten meat to attract flesh-loving insects. It takes nine months to mature and flowering lasts only four to five days. Due to the specific ecosystem required by the plant, it’s almost impossible to cultivate and is found only in the wild.
It is sometimes called the corpse flower. Confusingly, that title truly belongs to an unrelated plant called Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum.
This is the world’s tallest unbranched inflorescence (flowering structure) and can reach a whopping 10 feet high. An inflorescence is not a single flower; it’s composed of hundreds of small buds on a single stalk. Native to Sumatra, it too attracts pollinators with the smell of rotting meat.
Amorphophallus titanum has an unusual life cycle. It can take years to bloom and then flower for just 24-36 hours. There are examples at Kew Gardens and the Eden Project in Cornwall. When in bloom, it is a popular attraction. Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
QUESTION What’s the origin of the word ‘peccadillo’?
A PECCADILLO is a minor sin. Parents will recognise them in their children, when they forget to say please and thank you or don’t wash their hands after using the loo.
In modern usage, it’s often used to refer to minor sexual indiscretions.
Spanish speakers distinguished the peccadillo, or ‘little sin’, from the more serious pecado. The word can be traced back to the Latin verb peccare, meaning ‘to transgress or sin’ and has been used in English since the late 16th century. Lucy Harrison, Windermere,
Cumbria.
QUESTION Did Captain Robert FitzRoy almost throw Charles Darwin off the HMS Beagle because he didn’t like his face?
THERE were two barriers in the way of Charles Darwin securing a berth on the Beagle – his father and his nose! Darwin had just graduated from the University of Cambridge and his father, Robert, was concerned; the Beagle was a 10-gun brig, 235 tons and just 90 feet long. This type of ship was nicknamed ‘coffin’ because of its tendency to sink in rough seas.
Robert would only allow his son to go if sponsored by someone he respected. That man was Charles’s uncle Josiah Wedgwood II, the son of the founder of Wedgwood pottery. The second obstacle was FitzRoy. He was an aristocratic young man who was looking for someone of equal status he could dine and converse with during the long voyage. FitzRoy believed the conformity of one’s facial features said much about one’s character.
Darwin’s nose almost let him down. It was rounded and gentle and did not indicate to FitzRoy that Darwin had sufficient grit for the arduous five-year journey (1831-36). FitzRoy’s own nose was sharp and defined. He relented and the pair struck up a close friendship.
In his autobiography, Darwin said that FitzRoy was ‘afterwards well-satisfied that my nose had spoken falsely’. It’s remarkable to think that the shape of Darwin’s nose might have actually changed the course of scientific history.
Adrian Marsh, Shropshire.
QUESTION Have many soccer goalkeepers played games in outfield positions?
THE French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez also once played outfield – for Manchester United, no less.
Barthez had always enjoyed playing with his feet as much as his hands, once commenting: ‘Calling me a goalkeeper is not enough because I do like to be involved in the game as much as possible. I’m a player.’
During a pre-season tour with United in 2001, Barthez got the chance to show off his outfield skills in a friendly against Team Singapore. Manager Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have allowed this in a competitive game, but there was little at stake here – so with ten minutes remaining, Bartez 10 introduced as a substitute, taking his place on the left wing.
United were 7-1 up. The Frenchman showed some neat touches in his cameo but failed to make an impact; the Red Devils did notch up another goal to secure an 8-1 win, but it was Ryan Giggs who found the net, not Barthez. ‘He’s been pestering me for ages to let him do that. I just thank God he did not score because we never would have got him back in goal,’ said Ferguson. Joel Griffin, Co. Cork.
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