Dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), southern Rhodes, Greece
The spike, or more properly spathe, of this bizarre arum lily may stand about 1.2m high. The plant is a relative of the more modest European cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum). But unlike the cuckoo pint, it grows its green leaves in the harsh sunlight of open, rocky, windswept conditions where life is on a knife edge; it must presumably be toxic to goats, it is difficult to see how it could survive otherwise. It emits a powerful stench akin to that of rotting meat, to which flies are attrracted; these then act as pollinators.
150610 386
Dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), southern Rhodes, Greece
The spike, or more properly spathe, of this bizarre arum lily may stand about 1.2m high. The plant is a relative of the more modest European cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum). But unlike the cuckoo pint, it grows its green leaves in the harsh sunlight of open, rocky, windswept conditions where life is on a knife edge; it must presumably be toxic to goats, it is difficult to see how it could survive otherwise. It emits a powerful stench akin to that of rotting meat, to which flies are attrracted; these then act as pollinators.
150610 386