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Amorphophallus (from Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos, "penis") is a large genus of some 170 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae).
The inflorescence, in many species, emits a scent of decaying flesh, in order to attract insects. Through a number of ingenious insect traps, pollinating insects are kept inside the spathe to deposit pollen on the female flowers, these stay receptive for only one day, while the male flowers are still closed. These open the next day, but by then female flowers are no longer receptive and so self pollination is avoided. The male flowers shower the trapped insects with pollen. Once the insects escape, they can then pollinate another flower.
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