By Emerson Chen
Davis, Aug. 20 -- An Italian botanist in 1878 may have discovered the corpse flower for the Western world, but Sumatran natives have known the titan arum for many generations.
Indonesians call the plant bunga bankai, which translates into "corpse flower." Given its gigantic size and awful smell, the corpse flower is sometimes used by Sumatrans for decoration.
Although the titan arum is not specifically known to be part of Asian culture, the genus Amorphophallus is widely used in food, medicine and everyday life. For instance, in Thailand, people steam the tubers, called buk, of all Amorphophallus species before eating them.
Stomach treatment
The tubers also are known to treat stomach ailments. One of the corpse flower’s relatives, Amorphophallus campanulatus, has medicinal properties used by natives for fever, swelling, diarrhea and other conditions. Filipinos boil and eat the tender petioles and sometimes use the boiled corm for animal feed.
Amorphophallus rivieri, known as the devil’s tongue (its corm is pictured to the right), is used for indigenous medicine in India and China.
Amorphophallus can be toxic, however. Calcium oxalate crystals are found in almost all parts of Amorphophallus and other members of the Araceae family. These microscopic crystals deter animals from feeding on them by irritating the trachea and breathing passages. As the throat swells, the crystals are further lodged into the soft tissue. People have found that the toxin can be simply broken down by through cooking.
Taste something like potatoes
One visitor to the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory from northern India noted that after thorough cooking, the corms taste somewhere between potatoes and breadfruit.
In Japan, the tubers are cooked for food and used as a laxative. Dietary fibers in the plant called glucomannan are actually being studied for treating diabetes and obesity.
Some species also have anti-cancer properties and may have potential in pharmaceutical development.
So besides being a public attraction, the corpse flower brings cultural and medicinal interests as well.
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