Dracunculus vulgaris

Schott 1832

My plant behaves at least strangely. It grows in winter and sleeps in summer.

2006/2007

I bought one tuber in April 2006, I planted it in my garden, but it had been dormant for all the summer.
I dug it in October and I put it on a window sill in a cold staircase. In the middle of November it started to grow and on the first days of December it put up the first leaf.
It looked so on the 15th January	and so on the 10th February, about 90 cm tall.
Close up of the petiole.	One of the last leaves. In that season it didn't bloom.

2007/2008

In the spring of 2007 I planted it again in the garden and it stayed there until late autumn showing no signs of being alive. Then I put it into a fridge where the temperature was a little above 0°C. On the 26 December the waking plant pierced the plastic bag in which the pot with the tuber was stored.
On the 12th January it had already a few leaves. It was growing in a room temperature at home.	On a southern window the transparent spots looked grandly.
It grew up to 110 cm. Photos taken on the 30th January 2008.
On the 2nd February I was happy that for the first time I'd see it blooming.
On the 10th February it showed the top of the spadix.
15th February - slowly opening. Accidentally during taking it from the window I broke the appendix :/
On the 18th February it was fully opened. It smelt unpleasantly, but only from the morning to the noon hours.
There are no pistillodes between the male and the female flowers like in the closely related Arum.

The IAS: Dracunculus vulgaris Tropicos: Dracunculus vulgaris CATE Araceae: Dracunculus vulgaris